The Girl from the Dream
by BreathOfWindFireAndSong1996
Summary: Jace Wayland has an unnerving nightmare about a mundane girl with red hair and green eyes. A mundane girl that can see straight through him, as if she were tearing all his walls down. The worst part is, she happens to be real. This is the entirety of CoB from Jace's POV. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

"Come on, Jace! We don't have all night!"

Jace Wayland rolled his eyes and finished the stealth rune on his right forearm. Normally it didn't take him this long to prepare for demon hunting. Normally_ he_ was the one downstairs and out the door, waiting on the sidewalk for his adoptive siblings, Isabelle and Alec Lightwood.

Normally he didn't have to put much effort into wiping his features clean of emotion.

Normally he didn't dream of a strange mundane girl with long, fiery red curls and bright green eyes.

Jace sighed and glanced at himself in the mirror. He was gorgeous, as well he knew. He smirked and flexed his fingers, heading out of his room to join his family.

**AT THE PANDEMONIUM CLUB**

Jace and Alec leaned against the wall nearest the entrance to the Pandemonium Club, watching Isabelle slink around a number of slightly drunk boys, taunting them with her body. Jace felt mildly disgusted. He had no room to talk, he knew. He treated girls the same way. They fulfilled his needs and then he discarded them. Isabelle did the same thing.

But watching someone you love act a certain way…it puts things into perspective. Jace took his eyes off Isabelle and let them roam the dancing crowd, looking for the demon they had tracked. His mind began to wander back to his dream.

He'd been standing in a dimly lit room. A storage room, from what he could see. But he wasn't really paying attention to the room. He wasn't paying attention to the black ichor on his clothes or the long gash down his forearm. There was a girl. A Mundie girl. Half hidden behind a concrete pillar, her red hair spilling over her shoulders and down her back, her green eyes wide with fear.

He'd looked at plenty of girls. This girl was the only one he'd actually seen. This girl was the only one he'd wanted to see. And that terrified him more than anything else he'd ever known.

"Jace," Alec hissed. "Did you hear _anything_ I just said?"

Jace just looked at him vacantly. Alec rolled his eyes, gripping Jace's arm and pointing across to Isabelle's retreating form. "I said, Izzy found him. She found the demon. Now let's _go_."

Alec pulled Jace off the wall. Jace detached himself from Alec's arm and followed the demon, completely unaware that a pair of eyes, the same green eyes that had been in his dream, were now watching him intently.

By the time Jace and Alec arrived in the storage room, Isabelle had already bound the demon with her whip. The demon was grinding his teeth and looking at the Shadowhunters with a mixture of fear and loathing. Jace stood in front of him, smirking, his hands shoved into his pockets. "So…who else is with you?"

The demon looked genuinely perplexed. "Wh-what do you mean?"

Alec clenched his jaw and stood next to Jace, brushing his shoulder. "What was your purpose in coming here?"

"I have no idea what you people are talking about. You're all insane. I was just minding my own business and then this…this _she_ devil comes and-"

He was cut off by Isabelle's laughter. Her eyes glittered dangerously and she bared her teeth. "_I'm_ the devil?"

The demon glared at her. "I didn't do anything wrong and then you decided to tie me up with a _golden whip_! Who the hell does that?"

Jace's hands curled into fists in his pockets. He heard the door open and close, quiet as a mouse. His body stiffened. This had happened before. This had happened in his dream. He didn't turn around but instead folded his arms over his chest and began pacing the length of the room, hoping to calm himself down. It was just a dream. Dreams don't really come true. And even if they did…he was Jace Wayland. Jace Wayland did not get nervous, and he sure as hell didn't get scared.

"So," he said. "You still haven't told me if there are any other of your kind with you."

A look flashed across the demon's eyes. Jace couldn't read it, which frustrated him. He could hear someone walking, tiptoeing behind him. He clenched his jaw and told himself it was a trick of his imagination. It had to be. And even if it wasn't, it could just be a couple of random Mundie kids sneaking in here to make out. It wasn't unheard of.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the demon said despairingly.

"He means other demons. You do know what a demon is, don't you?" Alec said sarcastically. Jace moved closer to the demon, avoiding looking behind him.

"Demons." He wrote the word in the air with his fingertips, lengthening the word as if he were a kindergartener, laboriously sounding out a word. "Religiously defined as Hell's denizens, the servants of Satan, but understood here, for the purposes of the Clave, to be any malevolent spirit whose origin is outside our own home dimension-"

Isabelle cut him off, much to his annoyance. "That's enough, Jace."

Alec placed a hand on his shoulder. "Isabelle's right. No one needs a lesson in semantics-or demonology."

Jace thought back to his dream. The girl. If she really was here, in this room…she would need the lesson. And he would like to be the one to teach her… to pull her into his world of shadows and scars. Jace shook his head to clear it. Of course she wasn't here. It was a dream, for god's sake. He looked up and smiled, wanting suddenly to kill the demon without further delay and flee. "Isabelle and Alec think I talk too much." He leaned in toward the demon. "Do _you_ think I talk too much?"

Some sort of light seemed to go out of the demon. He hunched his shoulders. "I could give you information," he said hopefully. "I know where Valentine is."

Valentine. The name sent a jolt of hatred through Jace. He looked at Alec incredulously, who just shrugged as if saying _He's obviously lying_. "Valentine's in the ground. The thing's just toying with us."

Isabelle tossed her hair, exasperated. "Kill it, Jace. It's not going to tell us anything."

Jace couldn't agree more, and the room was becoming suffocating. He wanted to leave. He wanted to flee the room and never come back. He wanted to chase away the dream of the red-haired girl. He couldn't figure out why it had unnerved him so badly and he wanted to forget it. He raised his knife and panic shot through the demon like wildfire. "Valentine is back!"

Jace hesitated for the fraction of a second. The demon seemed to notice this and he strained against his bonds. "All the Infernal Worlds know it-I know it-I can tell you where he is-"

The shock of hatred and anger ripped through Jace's body again. He clenched his jaw. "By the Angel, every time we capture one of you bastards, you claim you know where Valentine is." He took a deep breath. "Well, we know where he is, too. He's in hell, and you-" Jace gripped the knife, tightly, forgetting for a few moments about the dream. The only thing that existed in his world was himself, his family, and this demon. And the demon was as good as gone. "You can _join him there_."

"Stop! You can't do this!"

Jace's heart leapt into his throat and he spun around, so shocked that he dropped the knife. There she was. The girl from his dream. Red hair, green eyes, everything. Same fear in her expression. Jace took a deep breath and wiped his face clean of emotion. _This can't possibly be happening_, he thought. _No way. It's just a dream, Jace. A dream within a dream. You'll wake up any minute and then-_

But no. There was Alec and there was Izzy and there was the demon, all looking almost as astonished as Jace had felt. Though not, Jace knew, for the same reason. "What's this?" Alec demanded.

Jace resumed his signature, sarcastic tone. "It's a girl. You've seen girls before, Alec. Your sister Isabelle is one." He took a hesitant step closer to the girl, who, he couldn't help but notice, was staring at him. He felt pleased. He squinted at her, still trying to convince himself he was dreaming. "A Mundie girl…and she can see us."

The girl lifted her chin defiantly. "Of course I can see you," she said. "I'm not blind, you know."

Jace bent and picked up his knife, partially because he needed it, partially because he had to tear his eyes away from the girl. She was making him feel…uncomfortable. Unsettled. _He_ controlled girls' emotions. They didn't control his emotions. "Oh but you are. You just don't know it." He gripped his knife again, feeling the familiar hilt in his palm. "You'd better get out of here, if you know what's good for you."

The girl crossed her arms stubbornly. "I'm not going anywhere. If I do, you'll kill him."

Jace grit his teeth. He wanted her to go away…and yet, he didn't. He wanted to do exactly what he had wanted to do in his dream. He wanted to take her with him. To train her like a Shadowhunter, even if she had no Clave blood. To be with her forever… _No, Jace. You don't even know her. You can't…you can't possibly be in _love _with her. _He looked at the girl again, twirling his knife around. "That's true. What do you care if I kill him or not?"

"Be-because—You can't just go around killing people."

Jace laughed inside. She really was a Mundie. "You're right," he said. "You can't go around killing_ people_." He jerked his thumb towards the demon. "That's not a person, little girl. It may look like a person and talk like a person and maybe even bleed like a person. But it's a monster."

"_Jace_, that's enough." He knew Isabelle was right. He'd said too much already and he was regretting it. When he looked at the girl's terrified expression, he felt like an empty pit had opened up in his heart. He hadn't meant to scare her…

The girl started backing away. "You're crazy. I've called the police, you know. They'll be here any second." Jace noticed the electrical wires snaking around her feet.

Alec frowned. "She's lying. Jace, do you-"

They were all startled by a high-pitched scream, like a battle cry, and then suddenly Jace was on the ground, the blue-haired demon on top of him, slashing Jace's skin with his claws. His heart sped up. The demon finally attacked, and Jace was beyond thrilled, if he was honest with himself. He loved to fight. Sometimes he even loved the pain. It helped him to forget.

It was helping him forget right now. Everything- the unsettling, red-haired girl from his dream, Izzy, Alec- they all disappeared. The only thing in this world was Jace. Jace and the demon, trying to kill one another. And Jace knew he'd win.

He rolled over onto his back and the demon leapt up, landing on Jace's chest. His claws slashed down towards Jace's chest and Jace threw his hands up to ward off the blow, receiving a long gash down his arm. _Didn't see _that_ one coming,_ Jace thought sarcastically.

Isabelle was screaming something at him, but he ignored it. The demon suddenly shrieked and rolled off of Jace, and Jace saw Isabelle's golden whip gleaming with black ichor. Jace rolled over, gripping the knife. He flicked his wrist and drove the knife deep into the demon's chest. Ichor fountained up around the hilt and Jace stood up, grimacing. He pulled the knife out from the demon's chest and cradled his arm against his soaking wet clothes. What was ichor and what was blood, he couldn't tell, nor did he care.

The demon was staring at him, furious. "_So be it. The Forsaken will take you all."_

Jace growled at the demon as it began to fold in on itself, no doubt returning to its home dimension. He heard the girl scramble for the door and suddenly he was furious. That demon would've been dead a lot sooner if it weren't for her. It would've been dead and Jace wouldn't be holding his arm carefully, as he was now. He turned around and saw Isabelle wrap her whip around the girl's wrist angrily. "Stupid little Mundie," she hissed. "You could've gotten Jace killed."

_I seriously doubt that demon could've killed me,_ Jace thought. The girl tried to pull her wrist free and winced. He didn't like it. Jace didn't like the girl being hurt. _She's a mundane, Jace. Get ahold of yourself. What is with you today? All because of a stupid dream that happens to be coming true… It's just Déjà vu._

"He's crazy. You're all crazy. What do you think you are, vigilante killers? The police-"

Jace interrupted her. "The police aren't usually interested unless you can produce a body." He started walking carefully towards her, picking his way around the debris. He hardly noticed Alec following behind him. This was his dream. The exact way his dream had gone. He saw the girl look over his shoulder, where the demon disappeared. "They return to their home dimensions when they die," said Jace. "In case you were wondering."

"Jace." Alec's voice floated to him from far away. Jace barely heard him. "Be careful."

Jace turned to look at his parabatai, very slowly letting his injured arm fall to his side. "She can see us, Alec. She already knows too much.

"So what do you want me to do with her?"

Jace turned back towards Isabelle and the girl, who was wrinkling her freckled little nose in pain. He fought back the urge to go to her and comfort her and heal her wrist. "Let her go," Jace said softly, almost a whisper. It was the only thing he could think of. Maybe they would never cross paths again. Maybe he could be safe from those green eyes that seemed to tear every wall he had built up around him down.

Isabelle looked furious, but let the girl go. Alec hesitated. "Maybe we should bring her back with us. I bet Hodge would like to talk to her."

Jace's heart skipped a beat. Maybe they could. Maybe he really _could_ drag this girl into his world of darkness and killing. Jace studied the girl hard. She was now as white as a ghost and clutching her wrist, her green eyes wide.

"No way are we bringing her to the Institute," Isabelle scoffed. "She's a _Mundie." _

"Or is she?" Jace said, dangerously quiet. He moved closer to the girl, who was watching him warily. "Have you had dealings with demons, little girl? Walked with warlocks, talked with the Night Children? Have you-"

"My name is not 'little girl,'" the girl snapped. "And I have no idea what you're talking about."

Jace saw the doubt on her face, as fleeting as a cool breeze in the desert. She continued. "I don't believe in-in demons, or whatever you-"

The door to the storage room flew open, and Jace whipped his head towards it incredulously. A boy with dark, curly hair and nerdy looking glasses peered in at the girl, puzzlement written all over his face. "Clary?"

The girl whirled at the sound of her name. _Clary_, Jace thought. It was the most beautiful name in the world, in his opinion. And it suited her. The boy started talking at the speed of light, concern written all over his face. Jace scowled.

"Are you okay? Why are you in here by yourself? What happened to the guys- you know, the ones with the knives?"

Jace breathed a sigh of relief. This boy couldn't see them. Only Clary could. He grinned at her and shrugged, as if to say he was sorry her friend couldn't see what she could. Even though he wasn't sorry. No, he wasn't sorry at all. In fact, he was over the moon.

Clary stepped carefully out of the wires, her shoulders hunched in defeat. "I thought they went in here. But I guess they didn't. I'm sorry." She flushed. "It was a mistake."

Isabelle giggled.


	2. Chapter 2

After the door closed behind an embarrassed Clary, a confused Simon, and a very irritated bouncer, Jace became suddenly preoccupied with his dagger, running his perfect nails along the runic grooves carved into the hilt.

Alec moved to stand next to him, clasping his hands behind his back. "That was…interesting." He looked at his sister, who was studying the door and wrapping her gleaming whip around her wrist. "Do you think we should go after them?"

Isabelle put her hand on her hip. "And do what, exactly?"

"Bring her to the Institute with us."

Jace stopped playing with the knife. _Bring her back_. Jace wanted to bring her back. He'd seen the way that Mundie boy, Simon, was looking at Clary. He didn't like it. All Jace wanted to do was run after Clary and drag her back home with him, leaving Simon standing on the street, all alone in the moonlight. The thought made him smile.

Isabelle sighed. "No, but we better tell Hodge about her."

Jace looked at his siblings as they made their way back through the pulsing nightclub. Once out on the street, he asked, "Why do you think she could see us?"

Alec shrugged, accidentally bumping Jace's shoulder. "By the Angel, Alec, we've got a whole sidewalk between the three of us. Can you walk any closer?"

Alec hunched his shoulders up around his ears sheepishly. "Sorry."

Jace didn't acknowledge his parabatai's apology. He was too busy thinking about Clary. _What's so special about her anyway? Sure, she's pretty and all…but you've seen pretty girls. You could have any pretty girl you want. She's definitely spirited…but you've seduced a fair number of spirited girls. What is it about her? _He kicked a crack in the sidewalk angrily.

Alec was by his side in an instant, concern written all over his features. "What's wrong, Jace?"

Jace shoved his hands in his pockets. "We should've brought her back with us. Who knows where she could be now? She could be anywhere! What if I-I mean, what if Hodge wants to question her or something?"

Alec and Isabelle stared at him. _Shit, _he thought. He met their gazes defiantly. "What?"

Isabelle shook her head. "If I didn't know better, Jace Lightwood, I would think you had a crush on her." She raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to argue.

He looked at Alec, who was wearing some kind of hurt puppy-dog expression. _What's _his _problem?_ Jace thought again. He frowned. "Well, you're wrong. It's just that…if we do need to find her again…how are we supposed to track her down? She could be anywhere."

Izzy laughed. "Come on, Jace. We're Shadowhunters. We'd use a tracking rune." She held up her wrist, the one with the golden, blood-spattered whip wrapped around it and smiled. "I got some of the little mundie's blood when I blocked her escape."

Jace clenched his jaw and then relaxed it. Izzy was right. The girl was just a mundane. He hated mundanes. The only thing they were ever good for was…well…a distraction. He smirked. "Oh I think she would've stayed anyway, Izzy dear." He flipped his knife into the air and caught it expertly.

Alec furrowed his brow in confusion. "Why? She was scared. Mundies run away when they get scared."

Jace grinned at him. "Because there was no way she could resist looking at my wonderful self." He pointed towards his chest. "Who can?"

Alec bit his lip and stared unseeingly at the sidewalk. Isabelle snorted. "You're an ass, Jace Wayland."

"I am not!" he cried indignantly. "Asses are short, stubby and brown with pointy ears and big noses. And the only noise they ever make is 'hee-haw.' I am none of those things. Quite the opposite actually."

Izzy held up a hand. "We get it, Jace. You're God's gift to the world. Can we go inside now?"

They had arrived at the Institute and were standing outside the wrought iron gate. Jace lifted his chin. "Finally, someone sees me for what I am." He pushed the gate open and sauntered up to the door.

Alec ran up and held the door open for his siblings. Jace started walking towards the library. "I wonder if she lives in Manhattan," he mused.

Isabelle raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Clary."

Alec shrugged. "She could live anywhere."

"I know," Jace said dejectedly.

He pushed open the door of the library and fell into a chair beside Hodge's desk. Hodge looked up at his students with some interest. He looked back down at the book he was studying. "So, how did it go?"

"We killed it," Isabelle stated matter-of-factly.

Alec leaned against the arm of his parabatai's chair. "It tried to tell us Valentine was alive."

Hodge didn't look up from the book, but he raised his eyebrows. "Another one?"

Alec nodded. "Yeah. And it almost killed Jace, but Izzy pulled it off of him with her whip."

Jace glared at Alec. "It did _not_ almost kill me. I was doing just fine, like always."

Hodge sighed. "Jace…how many times do I have to tell you that taunting demons is dangerous? You could have gotten yourself killed. And that is not a laughing matter. I know you think it's fun to kill things. I know you think it's funny when you almost get killed yourself. But think of your family. Think of Alec and Izzy. What would happen to them if you died?"

Jace ignored most of this lecture. He'd heard it a thousand times before. And really, what was the point of demon hunting if you couldn't have a little fun with the demons before you killed them? Saving the world and all excluded… He looked at his tutor. "I didn't tease it. Okay, well, maybe I did a little. But to be fair, it surprised me."

Hodge chuckled. "A demon surprised Jace Wayland? What is this world coming to?"

Jace thought of Clary. Nothing had ever, _ever_ distracted him from killing demons. Not even if Izzy or Alec were injured. That had just made him want to kill the demon even more. But Clary…he'd been so focused on Clary…why had he been so focused on Clary? He dug his nails into his palm. "I was distracted."

Isabelle snorted. "You can say that again."

"Oh?" was all that Hodge said.

Jace leaned forward. "Yeah. There was this girl, you see. Lots of long, curly red hair, big green eyes, freckles, bad temper. The lot."

A shadow passed over Alec's face and he relocated himself to a sofa in the corner of the room, somewhat detached from the rest of the group. Jace didn't even notice.

He continued. "Well, she came barging in and started screaming at us that we couldn't kill 'him.' We thought she was a mundie, because she didn't know it was a demon."

"Thought?" Alec interrupted. "Oh, we know she's a mundane." He scowled. "She didn't have any Marks that indicated she was a Shadowhunter and she didn't have anything that would identify her as a Downworlder."

Hodge finally looked up at Jace. "Are you sure she was-"

"I'm positive."

Hodge leaned back in his chair thoughtfully. "She would be the first mundane in a hundred years with the Sight. And she may be dangerous..." He tapped his pen on the edge of the desk.

Jace held his breath. _Please ask us to bring her here. Please, please, please. _He reprimanded himself. _Calm down, Wayland. It's just a stupid Mundie girl. _Despite the scolding he gave himself, his heart was racing and he was still holding his breath. Hodge sighed. "Do you have any idea where she lives?"

Alec groaned. "No. By the Angel, Hodge, please don't make us go after her. She's a _Mundie_." He added under his breath, "A stupid, cowardly, ugly mundie at that…"

Jace glanced at him sharply. Hodge sat up and scribbled something on a piece of parchment. "Well. I should very much like to meet her. I'd like to ask her a few questions."

Jace shot out of his chair a little too eagerly. He leaned forward against the large oaken desk. "I'll go." he volunteered.

Everyone stared at him. He stood up straight. "Well, I will. I think that only one person should go so we don't scare her again. And I'm the most attractive one to look at, and that definitely won't scare her. If anything it will make her swoon into my arms, and then I won't have to potentially kidnap her to bring her here," he said matter-of-factly.

Hodge stood up. "I don't know, Jace. You're a boy. Maybe Izzy should go…"

Isabelle brightened. "Yeah, I could go. I am a girl after all." She looked triumphantly at Jace. "She'd be more likely to trust me."

"Not after you cut her wrist open with your whip," Jace sneered.

"I'll go," Alec said meekly, emerging from his shadowy corner.

Hodge shook his head. "No, Alec. If you run into demons…well…"

Alec flushed and hunched his shoulders up around his ears. Jace looked at Hodge triumphantly. "Now you have to let me go. I'm the only one who could do it. She won't trust Izzy, because Izzy's hurt her. Alec can't go, because…well, we all know why Alec can't go. Robert and Maryse aren't here either. So I'm the only one."

Hodge sighed. "Alright Jace. You may go. But you'll have to wait until tomorrow. It's 3 am right now, and even if you aren't going to sleep, the girl most likely is."

Jace grinned. "I could kidnap her."

Everyone rolled their eyes. Alec walked over and stood beside Jace. "I'll go with you. As backup. I could follow behind and make sure nothing-"

"No, Alec, I think Jace can adequately take care of himself and the girl without you. He's right, only one person needs to do this."

Alec shrugged and left the library, probably, Jace mused, to sulk. He walked over to Isabelle. "Can I have your whip?"

She wrinkled her nose. "No. I can do an identification rune perfectly fine without your help, Jace Wayland." She flounced off, leaving Jace and Hodge alone in the library.

"Why do you want to go so badly, Jace?" Hodge asked curiously.

Jace thought hard before he answered. It was true, he wanted Clary to be his. If he was honest with himself, he was impossibly in love with her. There was no justification for it at all. He sickened himself. He'd always turned his nose up at those sappy teenage romance novels where the protagonists fell head over heels for each other when they first met. Love at first sight. It was a joke.

And yet here he was. Chasing after a girl he'd dreamt about once and then had a five minute conversation with.

"Jace?" Hodge interrupted his thoughts.

"Oh, no reason," he said nonchalantly, waving his hand in the air. "I just know she wants me." He grinned cockily. "Everyone does."

With that, Jace headed up to his room. He lay in his bed, unmoving, staring at the ceiling. _Clary. Clary. Clary. _Her name pulsed in his ears like a heartbeat. He tried it out, tasting the word on his tongue. "Clary."

He liked it. He loved her name. He said it again. "Clary." He grinned, picturing her face in his mind. What did she look like when she smiled? "Cla-"

His door opened. "Jace?"

Jace's heart skipped a beat. _Oh dear God, please don't let him have heard that._ "What, Alec?" He sat up as Alec closed the door behind him and sat on the bed.

"Are you okay?"

Jace felt puzzled. "Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

Alec flushed. "Well, ever since that Mundie-"

"Her name is Clary," Jace interrupted. He mentally kicked himself for saying that.

His parabatai frowned. "Fine. _Clary._ Ever since _Clary_ walked into that storage room…you've been acting like…well, you've been acting strangely."

Jace sat back against his pillows and smirked. "Don't worry, Alec. All we have to do is ask her a few questions tomorrow and then she'll be out of our lives forever." Jace paused, knowing that if that was actually to happen, he would find another method of worming his way into the mysterious girl's life. Jace Wayland did not give up until he got what he wanted. "Then you'll have my glorious person all to yourself."

Alec set his jaw. Jace knew he was being cruel. He knew Alec was gay. He knew Alec was trying his best to hide it from him. But Jace knew. "You just seem to be a little too…emotionally invested in a mundane girl that you barely even know."

Jace laughed. "_Emotionally invested_? Alec. We talked to the girl for five, maybe ten, minutes. There is no way I could have any emotion invested into her."

Alec looked doubtful. Jace folded his arms behind his head. "Clary however…she's probably dreaming about all the things I could do to _her_ as we speak." He grinned.

Alec threw up his hands. "…You're disgusting."

"No…vomit is disgusting. Demons are disgusting. Isabelle's cooking is disgusting. I am a wonderfully attractive, brilliant, perfection of humanity."

"Whatever. Just be careful." Alec left the room, and Jace thought he could almost see a black storm cloud hovering over his friend's head.

Jace fell asleep, trying not to think of Clary, and thinking of nothing else.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys! Oh my goodness! I wrote the first chapter yesterday afternoon and I wrote the second last night and it already has almost 200 views and 2 reviews. O_o I love you guys so much. So yeah. I decided to do all the important scenes (written and implied) from Jace's POV because I mean, who doesn't love Jace Wayland? Alright I'll shut up now. This is the scene where Jace goes after Clary to bring her back to the Institute 3 **

"Well…we know her full name now," Alec said unhelpfully.

Jace, Alec and Isabelle had been trying to find where Clary, who they now could identify as Clarissa Fray, lived for the better part of five hours. The sun was setting in the west and Jace was becoming increasingly frustrated.

Isabelle sighed. "It's a start, at least. Although how we're going to find her address is beyond me."

Jace leaned back in his chair thoughtfully. "What are those things called…those giant yellow books that are always by Mundie payphones?"

Isabelle sat up suddenly. "You mean the Yellow Pages! They list everyone's phone numbers. Well, everyone that lives in the city anyway."

"What, you want us to just call her up and say 'Oh hey, we're the people that you saw kill a demon last night. Yeah, we just wanted to know where you live so we can come possibly kidnap you and hold you hostage in the Institute. So if you could give us your address, we'll be right on over.' She'll warm up to us real fast," Alec sneered.

Jace looked at his brother. "I wouldn't tell her that."

"What would you say, Jace?" Isabelle asked, hands on her hips. "You know what? Don't answer that. I already know what you'd say."

"Oh?" Jace raised his eyebrows. "And what would I say?"

"You'd say something like 'Hey, this is the incredibly smart, strong, talented _man_ who saved you from that demon last night. I'd like to know if you wanted to go on a date with me tonight. If you say no, just beware, I'll kidnap you anyway."

Jace looked at her in mock horror. "Izzy. I would _never_ say that. Not without mentioning my stunning attractiveness first. Which you left out."

"You _would_ notice that."

Jace grinned and turned back to the computer. "Alec can you go get me one of those Yellow Page books?"

Alec left the room without a word. Isabelle sat next to Jace and stared at the Google screen. "He's mad at you."

Jace looked at his sister and cocked an eyebrow. "Why?"

"You've been very focused on Clary."

Jace felt his stomach twist into a knot. He had been ignoring Alec a bit. Okay, maybe a lot. He sighed. "I just want to find her so Hodge can ask her his questions and she can leave. The sooner she's out of the way, the better."

Izzy raised her eyebrows. "You really hate mundanes that much?"

_No. Quite the opposite. At least with this mundane…her idiot friend, that's who I hate. _"Of course." He knew his voice sounded unconvincing. "I don't want _her_ to get attached to _me_, that's all."

"Not everyone who meets you falls instantly in love with you, you know."

"What are you talking about? Yes they do."

"Yeah, well, try to notice how Alec's feeling a little more. You guys are parabatai. You're supposed to lift each other up and protect each other and all you've done since last night is beat him down."

Jace began to protest but Izzy held her hand up. "I didn't say you were doing it intentionally, Jace. I'm just saying you're ignoring him."

At that moment Alec walked in and Jace turned around in his chair. "Did you get it?"

Alec tossed the book to his friend, who caught it mid-air. "Yeah. I got it off a payphone down the street. It was easy enough."

Jace smiled at him. "Thanks."

Alec's face lit up. Jace rarely ever said thank you. Ever. He wasn't big on manners. He opened the phone book to the letter F and began poring over the sickly yellow pages. _Fray. Fray. Fray. _"Here she is," he said, pointing to a name on the page. "You did say her mother's name was Jocelyn, right Isabelle?"

Izzy nodded. "Yup. Jocelyn and Clary Fray."

"Okay…so how do we find her address?" Alec asked.

Jace laughed. "That's it right there, I think," he said, pointing to an address next to the phone number.

"Well that was easy," Izzy said. "We just spent six hours using every rune we knew on my whip and then Googling her name…and it took us five seconds to find where she lived."

Jace stood up and stretched, yawning. "Guess it's time for me to go then." He started walking towards the door. Alec caught up with him.

"I'll help you get some weapons."

Jace nodded. "Just let me get my gear on first." He walked silently to his room and inevitably thought of Clary. He looked at the black shreds of gear he'd worn the night before and grimaced. Thankfully, he had a drawer full of the pliant, black Shadowhunter gear he'd always worn. He changed quickly and slipped his dagger into his pocket.

How was he supposed to get her out of her house? If her parents weren't home it'd be easy enough. He could always use a glamour and coax her outside. But what if her parents had the Sight? What if her father wouldn't let her out of the house? Jace bit his lip. He'd just have to wait outside her home until she came out…or tried to go back in.

He pushed the door to the weapons room open and found Alec arranging seraph blades and daggers on the table. Jace stood next to his best friend and pored over the weapons, choosing two seraph blades and one more dagger. Alec looked at him. "That's all you're taking?"

"I've got two seraph blades and two daggers. I'm fine."

"But you're defending two-"

"I'm fine, Alec." Jace sighed and put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You don't need to worry about me. I can take care of myself."

He left Alec gaping after him, flushed a scarlet red. _I don't know what he's worried about. He knows I can handle myself and another person. He's just jealous that I…that I'm not focused on him right now. There are other things in the world than just him._

_He's your parabatai, Jace. You're supposed to be attached to each other at the hip._

_Maybe I don't want him attached to my hip. Maybe I want Clary attached to my hip._

_Jace…she's a mundane. Get ahold of yourself. It'll never happen._

He stepped out into the warm August air and inhaled the smell of New York. He hailed a taxi and slid inside, showing the cabbie the slip of paper with Clary's home address on it. "Do you know where this is?"

The cabbie nodded. "S'on the other side of town. You're gonna have to pay extra," he said gruffly.

Jace shrugged. "Just get me there as fast as you can."

With a jolt, the taxi sped off into the maze of New York streets. Jace played with his dagger, thinking. He remembered the night before, at the club. Izzy was right. He had been ignoring Alec lately, he realized, a feeling of guilt seeping into his veins and spreading like poison throughout the rest of his body. Overprotective, unassuming Alec, who had been the first friend Jace had ever had.

Alec, whose face lit up like a beacon when Jace asked him to be his parabatai. Whose thoughts had always been of Jace in battle, as they should be. Jace sunk a little into his seat. What was happening to him?

The taxi arrived in front of a dilapidated looking brownstone. Jace got out and paid the taxi driver, who took off with a screech. Jace took a moment to cover himself with a strong glamour. Even someone with the Sight would have to work to strip it away.

He looked up at the four digit number on the front of the house. It was definitely the right house. He heard footsteps and turned his head to the left, looking down the sidewalk, and scowled. There was his proof.

Simon walked around Jace and entered the brownstone as if it were his own home. Jace leaned against the side of the house, pulling out his Sensor. Not even a trace of demonic activity here. He sighed, shoving it back into his pocket, and looked at his fingernails. They needed to be trimmed. He took out his stele and was about to start using it to file his nails when the door flew open and Clary and Simon started walking toward the rest of the city, Clary gripping the strap of her messenger bag.

Jace grinned. _Finally_.

He followed them, close enough to hear every word they were saying. Clary looked a little queasy. Simon looked at her with concern."Are you alright? You look like you're going to pass out."

Clary looked blankly at her friend. "What? No, I'm fine."

"You look like you just saw a ghost."

_She said she's fine, you stupid mundane._

Clary shook her head, her red curls bouncing over her shoulders. "Nothing. I thought I saw Dorothea's cat, but it was just a trick of the light." She looked at Simon. "I haven't eaten anything since yesterday. I guess I'm a little out of it."

Jace grit his teeth as Simon slid an arm around Clary's waist. "Come on, I'll buy you some food."

Jace followed them all the way to a restaurant called Nacho Mama. He laughed at the name and waited about twenty minutes before he seated himself at a table about three feet away from Clary and Simon.

"I just can't believe she's being like this. Like grounding me every other week wasn't bad enough. Now I'm going to be exiled for the rest of the summer."

Jace didn't know what being grounded meant, but he realized that if he was going to manage to bring Clary back to the Institute at all, it would have to be today. All he had to do was wait for the opportune moment.

"Well, you know your mom gets like this sometimes." _Like what?_ "Like when she breathes in or out." Simon grinned.

Clary scowled at him. "Oh, sure, act like it's funny. _You're_ not the one getting dragged off to the middle of nowhere for God knows how long-"

Simon interrupted her. "_Clary_. I'm not the one you're mad at," he said. _Unfortunately,_ Jace thought.

"Besides, it isn't going to be permanent," Simon finished.

Clary raised her eyebrows at him. "How do you know that?"

"Because I know your mom. I mean, you and I have been best friends for what, ten years now?" _Ten years?_ Jace's heart sank. Not even he was cruel enough to try and tear something like that apart. Well…maybe not… "I know she gets like this sometimes. She'll think better of it."

"Do you though?" Clary asked doubtfully. "Know her, I mean? I sometimes wonder if anyone does."

Jace leaned in.

"You lost me there."

"I mean she never talks about her early life, or her family, or much about how she met my dad. She doesn't even have wedding photos. It's like her life started when she had me. That's what she always says when I ask her about it." Clary sighed unhappily.

Jace's mind was working at a million miles an hour. Could Clary's mother possibly be a Shadowhunter? It would make sense…

"Maybe she hates them," Simon was saying when Jace tuned back into the conversation, even more interested than he was before. "Maybe they were abusive or something. She does have those scars."

Jace nearly fell out of his chair. He saw Clary staring at Simon in disbelief. "She has _what_?"

"Those little thin scars. All over her back and her arms. I _have_ seen your mother in a bathing suit, you know."

Jace didn't hear the rest of their conversation. He was too busy thinking about how Clary might be a Shadowhunter. _It would explain everything_, he thought. _She has the Sight…but maybe her mother left the Clave. That way she wouldn't know anything of the Shadow World._ In fact, he didn't even notice the pair had left until they were already outside.

He was out of his seat like a flash, following them again, practically breathing down Clary's neck. He was surprised she couldn't see him. Or maybe he was better at glamour runes than he thought… He smirked to himself. He'd have to tell Izzy and Alec that he was better than them at drawing runes too.

"We're choosing between Sea Vegetable Conspiracy and Rock Solid Panda."

Jace gave Simon a disgusted look, even though he knew the dark haired boy couldn't see him. _How about Mundane Vomit Bowl?_

The corner of Clary's mouth quirked up in amusement. "Those are both terrible."

"Eric suggested Lawn Chair Crisis."

"Maybe Eric should stick to gaming."

"But then we'd have to find a new drummer."

Clary shook her head. "Oh is _that_ what Eric does? I thought he just mooched money off you and went around telling girls at school that he was in a band in order to impress them."

"Not at all. Eric has turned over a new leaf. He has a girlfriend. They've been going out for three months."

Clary distractedly watched a little girl in a stroller roll by, and turned her head quickly. "Not at all."

Jace stepped back and peered at the doll the girl was holding. Just as he'd suspected. It was a sprite from the Faerie Realm. Clary must have seen its wings flutter. Jace chuckled to himself. He looked back to where Clary and Simon had been a moment ago…they were gone. Jace swore under his breath and ran to try to catch up.

He ran by an old looking coffee shop and glanced in the window as he went by. He stopped and backtracked. He was right. There was the bright head of red curly hair, talking to that mundane idiot, as always. Jace walked in and sat on a sofa a little ways away from their table, watching them talk.

"You're staring at me. Why are you staring at me? Have I got something on my face?"

Jace wanted to make a sarcastic remark but knew he couldn't. He knew Clary would hear him and he didn't want to reveal himself just yet. Clary leaned in to Simon and whispered something that Jace couldn't hear. He couldn't help but think that she didn't belong with Simon. Clary belonged with him, with Jace. Jace and his world of demons and scars and killing. He smirked. He'd get her. He always did. He could have any girl he wanted and Clary was no exception. It would be fun making her fall for him.

Jace was pulled out of his thoughts by an explosion of feedback. He covered his ears. _What the…?_

"Come, my faux juggernaut, my nefarious loins! Slather every protuberance with arid zeal!"

Jace knit his features into a scowl. Is this what mundanes thought was poetry? It was terrible. His father had been right. Mundane education was incredibly insufficient.

He turned his attention back to Clary and Simon, who had begun talking again. Simon looked incredibly pale. Jace grinned. _Does he…?_

"There's something I want to talk to you about."

Jace's grin widened. _He does. By the Angel, he loves Clary. Probably has since he met her,_ he mused. _Too bad she doesn't return the sentiment._ He could tell. He'd watched enough girls turn hopeful boys down. He knew the attitude they projected.

"Furious Mole is not a good name for a band."

_And she's clueless. Either that, or she knows and she's trying to change the subject._

"Not that. It's about what we were talking about before. About me not having a girlfriend."

Jace bit back a laugh. This was incredibly entertaining. He could see Simon slowly turning green. Clary shrugged. "Oh. Oh I don't know. Ask Jaida Jones out. She's nice and she likes you."

Simon fidgeted with his napkin under the table. Was Clary really that oblivious? "I don't want to ask Jaida Jones out."

"Why not?" Clary asked maliciously. "You don't like smart girls? Still seeking a _rockin' bod_?"

_I like smart girls… Smart girls are the most fun to tease because they know what I'm talking about and then they get all huffy and insulted._

"Neither. I don't want to ask her out because it wouldn't really be fair to her if I did…"

"Why not?"

"Because I like someone else." Simon was as green as an apple now.

"Okay…You're not gay, are you?"

Jace had to bite on his tongue to keep from laughing. This was immensely entertaining…

"If I were, I would dress better."

"So, who is it then?"

This time Jace let out a laugh, hastily turning it into a cough. But she had heard it. Clary whipped around in her seat and Jace gave her a lopsided grin. Her eyes were wide in astonishment and her mouth formed a perfect 'oh.' Jace resisted the crazy, impossible urge to kiss her.

Simon was staring at Jace also. Well, not exactly at Jace. Through him. Jace knew Simon couldn't see him. Simon looked blank. "What is it?"

Clary was staring hard at Jace. He raised his hand and wiggled his slim pianist's fingers at her in a taunting wave. _Time to draw her away._ He sauntered out the door without another glance.

Once outside he leaned against the brick wall and took out his Sensor, checking for any demonic activity. If a demon was following him, he wanted to know. And Clary definitely wasn't dangerous. So that ruled her out as even being a Downworlder. The door burst open and Jace looked up quickly. There she was, standing only three feet away from him and looking furious. He suppressed a smile. "Your friend's poetry is terrible," was all that he said.

Clary blinked. "What?"

Jace rolled his eyes. "I said his poetry was terrible. It sounds like he ate a dictionary and started vomiting up words at random."

Clary's anger was back, lighting up her green eyes…or maybe that was just the street light. "I don't care about Eric's poetry. I want to know why you're following me."

Jace raised his eyebrows. "Who said I was following you?" _Had she known he was there the whole time? _The thought made him uncomfortable.

"_Nice_ try. And you were eavesdropping too. Do you want to tell me what this is about, or should I just call the police?"

Jace laughed inside. She was so oblivious… "And tell them what?" he taunted. "That invisible people are following you? Trust me, little girl, the police aren't going to arrest someone they can't see."

Clary clenched her jaw. "I told you before, my name is not 'little girl.' It's Clary."

She was so cute when she was angry. "I know," he said thoughtfully, tapping his nails on his dagger rhythmically. "Pretty name. Like the herb, clary sage. In the old days people thought eating the seeds would let you see the Fair Folk. Did you know that?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Jace sighed. "You don't know much, do you?" he drawled. "You seem to be a mundane like any other mundane, yet you can see me. It's a conundrum." He squinted at her in the dark.

Clary crossed her arms, almost hugging herself. "What's a mundane?"

"Someone of the human world," he said matter-of-factly. "Someone like you."

"But _you're_ human."

"I am," he observed. "But I'm not like you."

"You think you're better. That's why you were laughing at us."

He grinned. "I was laughing at you because declarations of love amuse me, especially when unrequited. And because your Simon is one of the most mundane mundanes I've ever encountered. And because Hodge though you might be dangerous, but if you are, you certainly don't know it."

Clary gaped at him. He was enjoying this entirely way too much. "_I'm_ dangerous? I saw you kill someone last night. I saw you drive a knife up under his ribs and-"

Jace cut her off. "I may be a killer, but I know what I am." He moved a little closer to her. "Can you say the same?"

She lifted her chin. "I'm an ordinary human being, just like you said. Who's Hodge?" she asked curiously.

"My tutor," he said, closing the small gap of space between them. "And I wouldn't be so quick to brand myself as ordinary, if I were you. Let me see your right hand."

She looked confused. "My right hand?" He nodded. "If I show you my hand, will you leave me alone?"

"Certainly," he lied, amused.

She gave him her hand and he took it, inspecting it. Nope. No Marks. Just a lot of freckles. His shoulders drooped a little. "Nothing. You're not left-handed, are you?" _You're not left-handed, like me?_

Clary shook her head. "No. Why?"

He dropped her hand, shrugging. "Most Shadowhunter children get Marked on their right hands-or left, if they're left-handed like I am-when they're still young. It's a permanent rune that lends an extra skill with weapons." She looked completely lost. He sighed and held out the back of his left hand for her to inspect.

"I don't see anything…"

"Let your mind relax," he advised. "Wait for it to come to you. Like waiting for something to rise to the surface of water."

"You're crazy."

He chuckled. A moment later he was rewarded with a surprised blink. She looked at him. "A tattoo?"

He lowered his hand. "I thought you could do it." _Actually, I knew you could do it._ "And it's not a tattoo," he added. "It's a Mark. They're runes, burned into our skin."

"They make you handle weapons better?" she asked him doubtfully.

"Different Marks do different things. Some are permanent, but the majority vanish when they've been used."

"That's why your arms aren't all inked up today? Even when I concentrate?"

"That's exactly why," he said proudly. "I knew you had the Sight, at least." He paused, looking up at the stars. "It's nearly full dark. We should go."

"_We_? I thought you were going to leave me alone," Clary cried, looking panicked.

"I lied," Jace said. "Hodge said I have to bring you to the Institute with me. He wants to talk to you."

She furrowed her brow. "Why would he want to talk to me?"

"Because you know the truth now," he explained. "There hasn't been a mundane who knew about us for at least a hundred years."

"About _us_?" she asked. "You mean people like you. People who believe in demons."

He looked at her. "People who kill demons," he said. "We're called Shadowhunters. At least, that's what we call ourselves. The Downworlders have less complimentary names for us."

"Downworlders?"

Nothing. She knew absolutely nothing. "The Night Children. Warlocks. The fey. The magical folk of this dimension."

Clary was watching him incredulously. "Don't stop there. I supposed there are also, what, vampires and werewolves and zombies?"

_She's catching on,_ he thought, pleased. "Of course there are. Although you mostly find zombies farther south, where the voudun priests are."

"What about mummies? Do they only hang around Egypt?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Jace scoffed. "No one believes in mummies."

"They don't?" she asked, looking a little embarrassed.

"Of course not." He paused, debating whether or not to go on. "Look, Hodge will explain all this when you see him."

Clary crossed her arms again stubbornly. "What if I don't want to see him?"

"That's your problem," he said, somewhat amused. "You can either come willingly or unwillingly."

Clary gaped at him. "Are you threatening to _kidnap _me?"

He grinned at her, thoroughly enjoying himself. "If you want to look at it that way, yes."

A loud ringing cut through the night noises of New York and Jace noticed that Clary's messenger bag was vibrating. He looked pointedly at it. "Go ahead and answer that if you like," he offered.

"Mom?"

Jace moved closer, trying to hear the whole conversation, but Clary had it jammed up against her ear so tightly, he could only hear one side.

"…It's alright, Mom. I'm fine. I'm on my way home-"

She stopped talking suddenly, her green eyes widening with fear. Jace was practically breathing down her neck in an effort to hear what was scaring her so bad.

"Mom!" she suddenly shouted. "Mom, are you all right?..._Who's_ found you? Mom, did you call the police? Did you— _Mom_!" Clary shrieked.

Jace looked at her worriedly.

"Mom are you there?"

"Clary," he said gently. "What's going on?" _I knew there was more to her life than what she knew. I knew it, _he thought triumphantly.

Clary ignored him and redialed her home phone, her tiny hands shaking. The phone slipped and broke on the pavement. "Dammit!" she cried. Jace could tell she was almost in tears. She threw the phone back on the ground, crouching on the sidewalk.

Jace took her wrists and pulled her up. "Stop that," he said. "Has something happened?"

"Give me your phone," Clary said, grabbing the Sensor out of his shirt. "I have to—"

"It's not a phone," he interrupted. "It's a Sensor, you won't be able to use it."

"But I need to call the police!"

He softened his gaze. "Tell me what happened first," he said gently. She tried to pull away from him but he held on tighter. He was not going to let her go. Not when he'd spent this long trying to track her down. "I can _help _you," he said a little louder.

Suddenly, her hand flashed towards his face, scratching his cheek. He let go of her abruptly and watched her sprint down the street away from him, holding his hand to his cheek. He grit his teeth in frustration and quietly began to follow her, hugging the walls of the alleys and making sure she didn't know she was being watched.

**Okay! I really need you guys to review! Am I getting Jace wrong? Is he too sensitive sometimes? Is Alec being too obvious about his crush on Jace? THANKS FOR READING. NOW GET THOSE REVIEWS IN And maybe…if I get ten reviews…I'll update tomorrow. By the way, a lot of this dialogue is directly from the book. It's called a FAN FICTION. So yes. I will be "copying" it in some places. Remember…TEN REVIEWS.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMI or Jace Wayland, unfortunately. He's so sexy though…I wish I did.**

**Jace: Awe, thanks babe.**

**Me: *waves my hand dismissively* Oh, go away. Go make out with Clary or something.**

**Jace: *pouts* We're not to that part in the story yet.**

**Me: Oh yeah…Okay then, go be a loner in a corner somewhere.**

**Jace: *winks* I'm never a loner. How can I be, when I've got all this? *points to himself***

**Jace Wayland: Making girls sexually frustrated since 1990. Or 2007…whichever one.**

The stupid girl had run all the way back home. Jace knew he shouldn't have expected anything else. She was a mundie, after all. He leaned against the side of her house, wrinkling his nose. He swore he could smell the reek of demons. Maybe it was just a coincidence… still.

There'd been a demon attack on Clary's house, he was almost sure of it. He cursed himself for letting her take his Sensor. Jace crept around the side of the house, entering the foyer with the silence only a Shadowhunter could possess. The building was perfectly still, Jace realized, dread creeping into his stomach. There was no sound, not even a light to indicate that anyone lived in the place at all.

Jace took the stairs two at a time. He pressed down on the door handle and then jerked his hand back in surprise. It was ice cold. He pressed his lips together, flexing his fingers. He took a deep breath and drew an opening rune on the surface of the door with his stele. Moments later, the door blew open, hitting the entryway wall with a loud bang. Jace glanced around Clary's house in wonderment. It was so different from his own. So different from the centuries old, cracked, wall-papered walls and glass blown tapers he was used to. Different from even his own bedroom, which was always in perfect order, not a speck of dust in any crevice of his sparse furniture.

It was very… Jace searched for a word in his brain. Artistic. Characteristic. Comfortable. And in complete chaos. Furniture was turned upside down. Lamps and vases were shattered on the floor, and pictures hung lopsided from their hooks on the walls. "Clary?" he called out softly.

Jace padded into the kitchen. It was normal looking enough. A bottle of some kind of red sauce had shattered oton the clean tiles. Fiery and hot and red. It reminded him of Clary's hair. _Clary._ He turned around and walked back through the living room to the hallway, yelling her name louder and louder. Something, whether coincidence, instinct or something else, led Jace to her bedroom. He shoved the door open and grimaced.

There she was. Clary was lying facedown on the floor, her skin looking grey in the dim light. Jace flipped a light switch on and rushed to her, crouching down and turning her over in his arms, his heart pounding in his ears. _She's just a mundie, Jace—_

_Oh, shut the hell up. Who cares?__ He was really starting to resent his own thoughts._

He started to bend his head to her chest, to listen, to see if her heart was still beating. He stopped abruptly and swallowed. He laid her back on the floor, gently, like a mother putting her newborn down to sleep, and pressed his fingers to her throat. Jace sighed with relief as he felt her weak, but steady heartbeat. It was only then that he noticed his surroundings.

There was a Ravener demon, twitching on the floor about five feet away from where he was holding Clary. He grimaced and rolled her over again so that her shoulders rested against the inside of his forearm. His hand shook as he pushed back her messy hair. There it was. The stinger. He carefully pulled it out and tossed it at the shuddering demon. The Ravener suddenly died and Jace watched, emotionless, as the demon folded in on itself and disappeared.

It must have stung her when she tried to get away. She was very close to the door, a smashed picture on the floor near where the demon had disappeared. _It must have stung her…_

He snapped back to his senses, lifting Clary in his arms and carried her outside. He had just laid her down on the grass when he heard the sirens. He groaned and took Clary's hands, dragging her quickly around to the side of the house, just in the nick of time.

Her veins had started to swell a little, becoming very blue. Jace had to get her to the Institute or she would die. He swallowed hard with this realization and took the white cotton tank top he was wearing underneath his black gear, laying it out on the grass next to Clary. He managed to find some herbs that he knew Hodge used for healing demon wounds and started tearing the tank top into small strips. Clary gagged suddenly, and Jace glanced at her, seeing her green eyes. He kept his features void of emotion, but inside, he was immensely relieved. At least she was awake. Continuing the task at hand, he spoke to her in a low voice. "Don't move."

He started wrapping the herbs up in the cloth and heard Clary gag again. He looked at her, irritated. "I told you not to move," he said through clenched teeth. Did she ever listen? "That Ravener demon got you in the back of the neck. It was half-dead so it wasn't much of a sting, but we have to get you to the Institute. Hold still," he finished.

He slid his hand gently under her head, getting his fingers caught in her hair. He bit his tongue. She was trembling, whether from fear, exhaustion or illness, he didn't know. "That thing—the monster—it _talked_," she said hoarsely.

"You've heard a demon talk before," he said softly, slipping his makeshift poison tonic under her neck and tied it around her throat. He screwed his mouth up to the side, observing his work. She was turning paler by the minute.

She looked up at him with wide eyes. "The demon in Pandemonium—it looked like a person."

He chuckled to himself. Ignorance is bliss. Too bad. "It was an Eidolon demon. A shape-changer. Raveners look like they look. Not very attractive, but too stupid to care."

Clary set her mouth into a thin line. "It said it was going to eat me."

"But it didn't. You killed it." He couldn't help but feel a spark of pride when he said that. He didn't know why. _He _hadn't trained her. No one had trained her. He shouldn't even be bothering to heal her at the moment. She was a Mundie. He was Nephilim. He adjusted the knot around her throat. She got on his nerves, and he felt like she saw through him as if she was looking through a window pane, and it unsettled him. And yet…he was inexplicably jealous of Simon earlier that evening. He'd felt sick to his stomach when he thought she might be dead. He wanted her. That little voice rose in his head again. _What the hell is happening to you, Jace?_

He shook his head to clear it. Clary, apparently feeling better, managed to pull herself up into a sitting position. Good. Maybe she could walk to the Institute and he wouldn't have to touch her. Wouldn't have to deal with his sparking nerves for the twenty-minute walk home. "The police are here. We should—"

Jace interrupted her. They needed to leave, and soon. If they didn't, he knew Clary wouldn't make it. "There's nothing they can do. Somebody probably heard you screaming and reported it. Ten to one those aren't real police officers. Demons have a way of hiding their tracks."

"My mom," Clary croaked, her sentence ending in a whisper.

"There's Ravener poison coursing through your veins _right now_. You'll be dead in an hour if you don't come with me," he said bluntly, a knot of worry settling itself in his stomach. He ignored it, standing up and holding his hand out to her. "Come on."

She stood up and rocked back and forth on her feet, looking faintly greenish. Jace bit his lip. Looks like he'd have to touch her after all. He braced her by wrapping his arm around her back. "Can you walk?"

He knew the answer before she even opened her mouth to speak. The real answer, anyway. He was beginning to learn that Clary was proud and defiant…and disobedient. Disobedient, even, to her own body. So he wasn't surprised when she said, "I think so," and took a couple of tentative steps.

She gasped suddenly and pointed a shaking finger at the policemen. "Her hand—"

Jace studied the woman's skeletal hand. "I told you they might be demons." He looked around, trying to find an escape route. "We have to get out of here. Can we go through the alley?"

"It's bricked up. There's no way—" She started coughing and Jace looked at her worriedly as she drew her hand away from her mouth and made a little noise in the back of her throat as she saw the blood dripping from her fingers. His own throat tightened and he grabbed her wrist, ignoring the shock of electricity that jolted up through his arm. Jace turned it over and studied the porcelain skin, whose veins were popping up unnaturally. Not a sign of a single scar that could indicate that she was of Shadowhunter descent. He took a deep breath and pulled his stele from his pocket, tracing a glamour rune on the inside of her forearm. She looked at it, confused.

"What's that supposed to do?"

They really needed to go. They had forty five minutes to get to the Institute, maybe less. "It'll hide you. Temporarily." He noticed her staring at the object in his hand and he slid it back in his pocket, saying, "My stele."

Jace looked at Clary, who was swaying back and forth dizzily, as if on a boat being tossed among the waves in an oceanic hurricane. "Jace," she croaked pitifully.

She fell and he caught her easily. He tightened his grip on her and picked her up bridal style, pulling her safely against his chest, hoping she couldn't hear or feel his racing heart. She looked up at him and suddenly her body went stiff. Then her eyes rolled back in her head and she went limp. His breath caught. "Clary!"

She was still breathing. He sighed with relief, kicking himself internally for displaying what he viewed as an unacceptable emotion. Glancing back at the demon-cops, he broke into a sprint, not stopping until he reached the Institute. His arms were twitching as he kicked the door repeatedly, hoping that someone could hear him. He was about to put Clary unceremoniously over his shoulder and open the door himself when it flew open, revealing a worried-looking Alec. "Jace! It's about time—"He paused, knitting his features into a scowl when he saw Clary's limo form. "Is she dead?"

"She will be if you don't _move_," Jace snapped.

Alec stepped reluctantly to the side, and Jace rocketed in, stopping to catch his breath at the elevator. He noticed Alec staring at him. He looked away and stepped inside the elevator, holding it open with the toe of his boot for his parabatai. Alec observed Clary, who had groaned softly, with a grimace. "What happened to her?"

"Ravener. Got her in the back of the neck," Jace replied shortly, exiting the elevator and fast-walking down the hall to the infirmary, making Alec jog to keep up.

Isabelle was waiting for them inside the room. She gasped and jumped up out of the chair she'd been sitting in when Jace entered with Clary, who had started shaking in his arms. "Jace—what _happened_?"

He shook his head at her. "Pull back those sheets, Izzy, will you?"

Isabelle darted over to the nearest bed, yanking back the covers and helping Jace situate Clary on the mattress. She looked up at Alec, who'd been standing by the door, a shadow covering his face. "Don't just stand there! Go get Hodge!"

Alec grunted and stalked off down the hallway, following Church. Jace turned his attention back to Clary, her face looking gray and ashen in the dim light. She was whimpering, her eyebrows knit together, her fingers clenching and releasing the blankets repeatedly. His heart contracted. As soon as his tutor arrived, he was leaving. He couldn't stay and watch her looking so vulnerable.

"Did a horde of demons attack her or something?" Isabelle queried.

Jace shook her head. "Not quite. She killed a Ravener, but not before it got her in the back of the neck." He pointed to the cloth strips adorning her neck.

Isabelle scoffed. "She's almost dead because of one Ravener?"

Jace gave his sister a sharp look. "She's a mundane, Iz."

"I know, but still…"

The door flew open and Hodge rushed over to where they were, his arms full of bottles and books, Alec trailing behind. Jace moved away so his tutor could examine Clary. Hodge turned to Jace. "Good thing you put the healing salve on her. I have taught you well. She may have died from the pain if not for your little concoction."

Jace smirked, feeling empty inside. "I am brilliant, you know. A hero, a lifesaver, all that jazz." He put his hands in his pockets.

Hodge turned Clary over, undoing the cloth strips and studying the wound. Within fifteen minutes, he'd drawn the poison out of her system and bandaged the small hole with clean strips of gauze. He grimaced. "Isabelle, help me undress her. I need to check to make sure she's not hurt anywhere else."

Isabelle started to pull Clary's shirt up, and then stopped, narrowing her eyes at Jace, who had begun to feel unusually uncomfortable. "Out, Jace. You too, Alec!" she called.

Jace turned on his heel and walked calmly out of the infirmary, shutting the door firmly behind him. He noticed Alec, slumped up against the wall, and moved to him. "What's wrong with you?" he asked.

Alec pierced Jace's gaze with his own. "I just don't know why we have to heal her. She shouldn't even _be_ here, Jace. And yet, you're all acting like she's one of us, one of the Nephilim. You're giving her the same treatment as a Shadowhunter…"

Jace's face broke into a grin. "Are you jealous, Alec?"

Alec blinked, obviously taken aback. Jace loved cornering his adoptive brother like this. Alec flushed. "No. I just think you're breaking the law."

Jace rolled his eyes. "So what, Alec? Live a little. I'm almost positive that if the Clave were here right now, they'd support my decision."

Alec raised his eyebrows. "_Your_ decision?"

"Yes, my decision. I saved her life."

"You hope."

"I know."

Alec sighed. "You don't have to play the hero all the time, Jace."

Jace raised an eyebrow. "'Play the hero?' Oh, Alec. I thought you knew by now." He spread his arms, as if asking for a hug, smirking. "I _am_ the hero."

The door to the infirmary opened just then and Isabelle stepped out, holding Clary's poison-covered clothes. Jace turned to her, still smirking. "So?"

Isabelle frowned. "Hodge thinks she'll be okay… She's very weak though, so he's not sure."

The smirk fell from Jace's features. That annoying knot of dread and worry was forming in his stomach again. He noticed Isabelle and Alec watching him carefully, trying to read him. He knew they were used to a different Jace. They were used to a Jace who barely even cared about the girls he hooked up with. A Jace who was indifferent to almost everything on the outside, even, sometimes, his own family. And now, because of a girl, a mundane girl, he was acting strangely. It was only a matter of time before they asked him about it. He shrugged. "Are those her clothes?"

Isabelle nodded, holding them out so he could see them. They were torn at the edges, with dark holes and black stains from the demon poison. He took them from her. "I'm going to go burn them," he said, turning away and walking down the hall. "I'll see you guys later."

Instead of taking them outside to light them with a match, he went to his room, glancing up and down the hall. He slipped inside and knelt at the bottom of his chest of drawers. He pulled open the bottom drawer, which was full of old Shadowhunter cloaks and a few weapons from when he was younger. It was the drawer he knew nobody would dare look through. The drawer of his past. The drawer of what he held close to his heart. Only half-conscious of what he was doing, he neatly folded Clary's clothes and hid them under the cloaks at the bottom of his drawer.

**Hey guys! Thanks for reading this! You really make my day, by the way, when you review. By the way, my beta informed me of something and I would like a second opinion. Are Jace's inner thoughts too soft? I was thinking about how, in the books, he told Clary that he pretty much fell in love with her when he saw her at Pandemonium, so I'm trying to incorporate the telltale signs of love into his mind and the way his body reacts. Hope it's not un-Jace-like. Anyway. Tell me what you think! I want to hear the good, the bad AND the ugly. Love Always, ~S**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: HAI GUISE. Thanks for all the reviews ;) In this next chapter, virtual cookies goes to whoever tells me where the Wicked reference is in this chapter. Wicked as in the musical. Enjoi : )**

"Why haven't you gone to see her?"

Jace looked up from the book he was reading. Alec was towering over him, a scowl across his face, his arms crossed. Jace marked the page he was in the middle of reading with his finger and shut the book. "Why would I go see her?"

"You're the one who saved her."

"So? She's a mundane," Jace replied, kicking his legs over the arm of the chair.

"But Isabelle and I—"

"Are doing your part. I already did mine."

Alec looked at Jace, frustrated. "I don't understand you."

Jace raised his eyebrows. "What's not to understand?"

"You act like you care about her and then you—"

Jace cut him off with a sharp laugh. "_Care _about her? Alec, I—"

"I _wasn't finished, Jace_," Alec hissed through clenched teeth. "God, you always do that."

"Do what?" Jace asked, amusement in his voice.

"You interrupt people before they finish talking to you."

"Well, that's because I already know what they're going to tell me. And I don't feel like hearing the rest." He opened his book back up, hoping Alec would get the hint.

Jace really didn't want to talk to anyone. It was why he was hiding in the library, instead of training up in the attic. He'd needed to escape his own mind, which was consistently reminding him of Clary and her possible death. It had been a day and a half and she hadn't even twitched a finger or wiggled a toe. Nothing. The chances of her survival were looking grimmer with each passing hour. It was all Jace could think about, and it made him sick to his stomach.

It wasn't so much the thought that she could die that was making him sick, he told himself again and again. He sickened himself. He was different. Clary was unconsciously tearing his walls down, stripping him of every layer of protection he had built to keep him safe. _To love is to destroy, and to be loved is to be the one destroyed._

He couldn't let himself fall in love with Clary. And he couldn't let her fall for him.

Alec hadn't budged. "Well, you're going to hear what I have to say."

Jace groaned and started to protest, but Alec held a hand up.

"No, Jace. I'm talking right now." He dragged a chair over to where Jace was sitting, and sat in it. "You've been acting strange these past few days, Jace. It's unnerving me and Iz. We're not used to this…new Jace."

Jace raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Alec was the least confrontational person he'd ever met. He wondered how long Alec debated with himself on whether or not to begin this conversation, and he suspected Isabelle was at least partially behind it. Alec continued, putting a gentle hand on his parabatai's shoulder. Jace tensed, but Alec didn't seem to notice.

"I think I know why. I think I've figured out why you're acting…so…_emotional._"

Jace blinked, thinking he was caught. _He knows_, he thought. _He's going to murder Clary himself._ Jace had been working so hard for the past day and a half to lead his siblings off the scent, to make them think he was back to normal, when in reality, he was far from it. He'd acted indifferent and cold to Clary's situation by not visiting her at all. He'd dissed her a couple of times when she came up in a conversation. Every once in a while he'd lay on his bed with his hands folded across his stomach and just think.

If only he'd chased after her instead of secretly following her. If only he'd gotten there sooner. If only he'd told her what he'd been thinking before she ran off. If only, if only, if only. But then he always scolded himself for caring about her in the first place. _You're a mess, Wayland._ His emotions were at war. He loved her. He shouldn't love her, because she was a mundane. He didn't love her, he was just going through some strange emotional phase. He didn't love her quite yet, but he was greatly intrigued and he cared for her.

He suspected the last one was true.

"You do?" he finally said, his eyes still on the book.

Alec nodded. "Of course. You may be nearly impossible to read, but you're my parabatai. We're blood brothers." He took Jace's hand.

Jace stared at the floor. "I'm sorry if I've been…distracted lately…Ignoring you. She just—"

"I know. She lost her mother and almost died. It's the same thing that happened to you," Alec said reassuringly.

Jace looked quickly at Alec. He sighed with relief inwardly. He still didn't know. Jace went along with what Alec was saying and nodded. Alec continued. "But it's in the past Jace. You've got to forget about it."

Jace clapped his brother on the back. "Thanks. I'll try to remember that."

Alec released Jace's hand and stood up to leave. "I'll let you go back to your reading. And Jace?"

"Yeah?"

"She'll be gone soon. Just remember that." Alec pushed open the door and vanished into the dim hall beyond the door frame.

Jace squirmed in his chair, unable to get comfortable. _She'll be gone soon._

Maybe it was for the best. If he was perfectly honest with himself, Clary terrified him. It wasn't so much the fact that he wanted her. He'd always wanted girls. He wanted them, and they came. It was the way in which he wanted her that scared him the most.

He didn't want to have sex with her…which was odd for him. All he wanted to do was hold her too tightly and kiss her too fiercely. He wanted to run his hands through her long red hair. He wanted to stay up until four in the morning, just talking to her. He wanted to watch her sleep and then sleep beside her.

Jace blinked and shook his head to clear it. The book wasn't helping anymore. He put it away and walked back to his room. He went into the bathroom, splashed water on his face and laid back on his bed. After about five minutes, his door opened. "Lunch is ready," Isabelle said.

Jace sat up, scowling. "You know, once upon a time, people knocked on a door before they entered someone's room."

Isabelle grinned. "You're my brother. That rule doesn't apply to you."

"Oh, yes, it does. You have no idea what I could have been doing. What if there was some girl in my bed, naked? You'd be sorry you didn't knock."

Isabelle just laughed. "No one would be in your bed though Jace. I'm your sister, so that rules me out. The only other girl here is the mundane, and she's passed out in the infirmary."

Jace chucked a pillow at her. "I'll be down in a minute or two, okay?"

She smirked and flounced off, slamming his door behind him. He cringed. She knew he hated it when she slammed his door. He got up and went back into the bathroom, a plan formulating in his mind.

He started talking to his reflection in the mirror. "All right, Jace. Here's the deal. If Clary lives and she's a Shadowhunter by birth, you can fall in love with her. If not…give it up."

He spit in the sink and left to join his family downstairs.

**THE NEXT AFTERNOON**

"So, Jace. You say she killed the Ravener by herself?"

Jace nodded for what had to be the seventeenth time in a row. He was sitting in the library with Hodge and Isabelle and was beginning to become very irritated. How many times did he have to explain what happened in Clary's house for them to understand? Isabelle's mouth had been agape the entire time and Hodge looked doubtful. Jace had told Alec the story the night before and had only received a disdainful laugh. Why did no one believe him?

Hodge sighed and shook his head. "Either way, it' dead now…"

Just then Alec walked in. "Your turn, Iz. I think she's starting to wake up. She's been fidgeting and she cries out every once in a while, like she's scared."

Isabelle left for the infirmary, reluctantly. Alec moved over to Jace and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you forgetting? Like I told you to?"

"Yeah." Jace stood up abruptly, shrugging Alec's hand off. "I'm going to go…train," he announced, leaving the library.

Instead of going to the attic, he moved through a series of rooms, finally reaching the music room. He crossed to the piano and lifted the lid, running his fingers along the keys. Music helped him think. It relaxed him and his thoughts flowed more freely through his mind. He began to play Bach's Prelude in C Major.

Clary was going to live. Half of the deal he made with himself was met. He was ninety percent sure that she was a Shadowhunter. He smiled, thinking about her. Would she fall for him as fast as he'd fallen for her? She had to. He was every girl's dream.

He wondered how many more days it was going to be before she woke up. He imagined her flinging her arms around him and thanking him for saving her life. He would tell her it was no trouble at all. That he would save her life every day.

He heard someone accidentally kick the leg of a chair. Jace stopped playing. That would be Alec, wondering why Jace had run off and not gone to the training room. He sighed inwardly, squinting into the darkness. "Alec?" He wasn't so sure anymore. It actually looked a little too short to be Alec. "Is that you?"

Jace's breath caught in his throat as he caught a glint of fiery red hair moving through the shadows. "It's not Alec. It's me. Clary."

**So what did you guys think? XD What did you think of Alec trying to guess what was wrong with Jace? I was originally going to have him guess right, but I'm mean and I've decided to toy with Alec's emotions. ;) REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW. Let me know of any questions please. Any suggestions, complaints, ANYTHING. I want to hear them : ) Love you!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi guys! Oh my goodness, I'm sorry it took me so long to update! I don't own the book, and I couldn't write my next chapter without it so I had to wait until I got back to school to check it out. And THEN it wasn't in the library for the first month and a half of school. But I got it yesterday and now I'm gonna write the next chapter! :) Yay! Read and review my lovelies and maybe if you review enough (hint hint) all y'all might get an extra chapter today ;) Enjoy!**

Jace blinked for a moment and then stood up hurriedly. _Calm down, Wayland. She's not a Shadowhunter._

_You don't know that. The rune didn't hurt her, as far as we know._

He masked his features to show little emotion. "Our own Sleeping Beauty. Who finally kissed you awake?"

_I should have._

Clary lifted her chin a little. "Nobody. I woke up on my own."

Always the defiant little red-head. "Was there anyone with you?" Jace asked, leaning against the piano and watching her move closer to him as she squinted into the dark corner he was standing in. He was glad she couldn't see him very well. He was afraid he might be blushing.

"Isabelle, but she went off to get someone—Hodge, I think."

Jace rolled his eyes inwardly. Isabelle needed to learn responsibility. Who knew what Clary could have gotten into? She might have stumbled upon the weapons room… There was no happy ending to that thought,

"She told me to wait, but—"

"I should have warned her about your habit of never doing what you're told," Jace said, looking Clary over. She looked like a little girl dressing up in her mother's clothes, and as much as he appreciated it, that red v-neck was not doing wonders for Clary's chest. "Are those Isabelle's clothes? They look ridiculous on you."

Clary pressed her lips into a thin line. "I could point out that you burned _my _clothes," she said accusingly, pointing her finger at him.

Jace thought of how he had buried her ruined clothes at the bottom of his drawer, like a squirrel burying acorns for the winter. Like he was trying to save something, so that when he ran out of whatever that something was, he could just pull out her clothes and hold them in his hands and bury his face in them, demon poison and all. Stupid. So incredibly stupid and uncharacteristic of him. He pursed his lips and closed the piano. "It was purely precautionary. Come on, I'll take you to Hodge.

Jace's nerves sparked as he led Clary through the Institute. Part of him wanted to run away from her, away from the girl who was destroying everything he'd built to protect himself. Away from this girl who was morphing him into someone even he didn't recognize, and she didn't even know she was doing it. That was the awful thing. She couldn't help it. He couldn't beg her to stop, to leave him alone, because then he'd have to explain to her what she was doing and she'd probably think he belonged in an insane asylum. Maybe he did.

"Why does this place have so many bedrooms? I thought it was a research Institute," Clary asked curiously, jolting Jace back to reality.

"This is the residential wing," he explained, his voice sounding hollow to his own ears. "We're pledged to offer safety and lodging to any Shadowhunter who requests it. We can house up to two hundred people here."

A pause. "But most of these rooms are empty."

Jace nodded. "People come and go. Nobody stays for long. Usually it's just us—Alec, Isabelle, Max, their parents—and me and Hodge."

The last time someone from Idris had stayed at the Institute, they'd been treated to Isabelle's cooking. That was a disaster. Jace remembered smirking at the scene before him, the ambassador choking down the poisonous food, trying not to be rude. Isabelle looking forlorn and out of place in the kitchen doorway. It was the first and only time Maryse had ever let her daughter cook for the family.

"Max?"

"You met the beauteous Isabelle?"

Clary nodded beside him, still gazing absently at the walls. He wished he could climb inside of her head.

"Alec is her elder brother. Max is the youngest, but he's overseas with his parents."

"On vacation?" Clary asked, finally turning her head to look at him. He felt like her eyes were burning holes in his skin. He didn't return her gaze.

"Not exactly," he said cautiously. He'd already told her too much, and if she knew more, Hodge, Isabelle and Alec might get mad. Not that he cared. He just wasn't really in the mood for another lecture. "You can think of them as—as foreign diplomats, and of this as an embassy, of sorts. Right now they're in the Shadowhunter home country, working out some very delicate peace negotiations. They brought Max with them because he's so young."

Clary pressed him for more details. "Shadowhunter home country? What's it called?"

"Idris."

"I've never heard of it."

Jace smirked. "You wouldn't have. Mundanes don't know about it. There are wardings—protective spells—up all over the borders. If you tried to cross into Idris, you'd simply find yourself transported instantly from one border to the next. You'd never know what happened."

"So it's not on any maps?"

Did this girl ever shut up? "Not mundie ones. For our purposes, you can consider it a small country between Germany and France."

"But there isn't anything between Germany and France," she argued stubbornly. "Except Switzerland."

The smirk on Jace's face spread into a grin. "Precisely."

There was a short silence, during which Jace had begun to think that he'd finally satisfied her enormous curiosity.

"I take it you've been there. To Idris, I mean."

Jace's throat tightened at the thought of home. At the thought of his father. He remembered the falcon he'd trained. How it had blindly trusted him and grown to love him…and been destroyed. He couldn't help but think of Clary when he thought of the falcon. _To love is to destroy_, he thought again. "I grew up there," he said finally. "Most of us do. There are, of course, Shadowhunters all over the world. We have to be everywhere, because demonic activity is everywhere. But to a Shadowhunter, Idris is always 'home,'" he said wistfully.

"Like Mecca or Jerusalem. So most of you are brought up there, and then when you grow up—"

"We're sent where we're needed," he finished for her. "And there are a few, like Isabelle and Alec, who grow up away from the home country because that's where their parents are. With all the resources of the Institute here, with Hodge's training—" He stopped abruptly and almost tripped to keep himself from passing up the library door. "This is the library."

Church was blocking their path, and the cat meowed at him. He started to pet it with his foot. "Hey Church," he said softly, trying to get him to move.

"Wait. Alec and Isabelle and Max—they're the only Shadowhunters your age that you know, that you spend time with?"

Jace heard the disbelief in her voice. He took his foot off the cat. "Yes," he replied, hoping she would shut up.

"That must get kind of lonely." She sounded sympathetic.

The last thing he wanted was sympathy, especially from Clary. "I have everything I need," he said, going into the library and finishing the conversation.

He let Clary pass in front of him. She walked in slowly, craning her neck backwards and gazing at the room in awe. She liked to read, he could tell. Another reason why they were meant to be together. _Shut up, Jace. She's not a Shadowhunter._

Hodge looked up from his desk and watched Clary with some amusement. "A book lover, I see," he mused finally. "You didn't tell me that, Jace."

Jace stood behind Clary and shrugged, slipping his hands into his pockets casually. He laughed. "We haven't done much talking during our short acquaintance." _Unfortunately. _"I'm afraid our reading habits didn't come up."

He grinned as Clary turned to look at him furiously. She turned back to Hodge. "How can you tell?" Jace could hear the wonder in her voice. "That I like books, I mean."

Hodge stood. "The look on your face when you walked in." He chuckled. "Somehow I doubt you were that impressed by _me_."

Clary tensed as Hodge moved forward. "This is Hugo," he said, pointing to the raven on his shoulder. "Hugo is a raven, and, as such, he knows many things. I, meanwhile, am Hodge Starkweather, a professor of history, and, as such, I do not know nearly enough." He held out his hand and Jace grinned at his beloved tutor. Hodge could be funny sometimes. It just took a lot to coax the humor out of him.

Clary shook his hand tentatively, as if she were almost afraid of him. Hodge was somewhat frightening, Jace supposed. Although, if he were Clary, nothing would surprise him anymore. "Clary Fray," she said.

"Honored to make your acquaintance. I would be honored to make the acquaintance of anyone who could kill a Ravener with her bare hands." Hodge sounded genuinely impressed.

"It wasn't my bare hands," Clary argued modestly. "It was Jace's—well, I don't remember what it was called, but—"

Jace cleared his throat. "She means my sensor," he said. It had taken him a moment to get over the way his name rolled off her tongue. He'd only heard her say it once before, when she was barely conscious and he'd had to sprint home with her in his arms in order to save her life. Even then, his feelings for her hadn't been this strong. Who knew so much power could be packed into four tiny letters? "She shoved it down the thing's throat. The runes must have choked it." He paused. "I guess I'll need another one. I should have mentioned that."

Hodge smiled at Clary, not really paying attention to Jace. "There are several extra in the weapons room. That was quick thinking," he said, addressing Clary. Jace agreed. "What gave you the idea of using a Sensor as a weapon?"

_She probably didn't even know what was going on,_ Jace thought, picturing Clary standing helplessly with the Sensor, the Ravener getting ready to pounce. He shook the image from his head.

"I can't believe you buy that story, Hodge," a familiar voice said, laughing in disbelief.

Jace turned to look at Alec, who was sitting in his favorite chair by the fireplace. Jace had been so focused on Clary that he hadn't noticed his parabatai watching the whole damn thing. He swore under his breath. Alec had probably been observing Jace, observing the emotions that had flickered across his face. The way he had been looking at Clary with interest. An interest he knew Alec had never borne witness to before.

Clary was staring at Alec. Hodge cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow. "I'm not quite sure what you mean, Alec."

_He means he's jealous of Clary,_ Jace thought bitterly, his eyes boring into Alec's. Alec looked pained. He turned away.

"Are you suggesting that she didn't kill that demon after all?"

Alec snorted. "Of course she didn't. Look at her—she's a mundie, Hodge, and a little kid, at that. There's no way she took on a Ravener."

"I'm not a little kid," Clary burst out. Jace was beginning to find the whole argument amusing, if somewhat aggravating. "I'm sixteen years old—well, I will be on Sunday."

Jace perked up a little. Sunday was her sixteenth birthday. If her mom really was gone, then she'd have no one to live with, and then she'd have to stay at the Institute. At least, she'd have to stay until they found a family willing to take her in, and who knew how long that could take? _I'll do something for her… I don't know what. But…I have to do _something.

"The same age as Isabelle," Hodge was saying. "Would you call her a child?"

Alec folded his thin arms. "Isabelle hails from one of the greatest Shadowhunter dynasties in history. This girl, on the other hand, hails from New Jersey."

Jace suppressed a laugh.

"I'm from Brooklyn!" Clary cried, clearly upset. Jace watched her intently. She was even prettier when she was angry. He was beginning to learn that she was a very stubborn girl, and he liked that about her. "And so what?" Clary continued, her voice dripping with venom. "I just killed a demon in my own house, and you're going to be a dickhead about it because I'm not some spoiled-rotten brat like you and your sister?"

Alec's jaw dropped and he sat up, suddenly alert. "_What _did you call me?"

Jace cracked up. "She has a point, Alec. It's those bridge-and-tunnel demons you really have to watch out for—"

Alec cut him off, his eyes shooting beams of fire at Jace. "It's not _funny, _Jace! Are you just going to let her stand there and call me names?"

Jace managed to keep a straight face as he said, "Yes. It'll do you good—" He paused, letting the corner of his mouth twitch up. "Try to think of it as endurance training."

"You may be my parabatai, but your flippancy is wearing on my patience," Alec said, standing over Jace.

Jace lifted his chin up and met Alec's eyes with a challenge. "And your obstinacy is wearing on mine." His jaw tightened. "When I found her, she was lying on the floor in a pool of blood with a dying demon practically on top of her. I watched as it vanished. If she didn't kill it, who did?"

His mind flashed back to finding Clary on the ground. How his heart skipped a beat when he thought she was dead and then begun pounding in earnest when he realized with relief that she wasn't. Running to the Institute. Pushing everyone else away because he had to save this girl from his dream. Had to save this girl with the curly red hair and stubborn, bright green eyes. He remembered the injured air Alec had taken up that day. It was coming back, now that Clary was awake.

"Raveners are stupid," Alec said stubbornly. "Maybe it got itself in the neck with its stinger. It's happened before—"

"Now you're suggesting it committed suicide?"

"It isn't right for her to be here. Mundies aren't allowed in the Institute, and there are good reasons for that. If anyone knew about this, we could be reported to the Clave."

Hodge cleared his throat. "That's not entirely true. The Law does allow us to offer sanctuary to mundanes in certain circumstances. A Ravener has already attacked Clary's mother—she could well have been next."

"Raveners are search-and-destroy machines. They act under orders from warlocks or powerful demon lords." Alec turned to Clary, his eyes burning. "Now, what interest would a warlock or demon lord have in an ordinary mundane household? Any thoughts?"

Clary looked doubtful. "It must have been a mistake."

Alec rolled his eyes, exasperated. "Demons don't make those kinds of mistakes. If they went after your mother, there must have been a reason. If she were innocent—"

Clary's jaw tightened and Jace thought for a moment that she might try and attack Alec. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and dangerous, as if she were a panther getting ready to pounce on its prey. "What do you mean, 'innocent'?"

"I—"

Hodge interrupted. "What he means, is that it is extremely unusual for a powerful demon, the kind who might command a host of lesser demons, to interest himself in the affair of human beings. No mundane may summon a demon—they lack that power—but there have been some, desperate and foolish, who have found a witch or a warlock to do it for them."

Clary shook her head. "My mother doesn't know any warlocks. She doesn't believe in magic." She hesitated. "Madame Dorothea—she lives downstairs—she's a witch. Maybe the demons were after her and got my mom by mistake?"

Hodge looked surprised. "A witch lives downstairs from you?"

Jace moved to sit on the armrest of Alec's chair, ignoring the fact that his parabatai had tensed up. "She's a hedge-witch—a fake. I already looked into it. There's no reason for any warlock to be interested in her unless he's in the market for nonfunctional crystal balls," he said.

The first day after he'd brought Clary to the Institute, he'd gone back to her house to try and find any hints of demonic activity, and reason as to why Raveners would invade the home of this strange mundane girl. He'd been attempting to open the upstairs apartment door when he heard something slam down in the foyer. He had crept back down the stairs, seraph blade at the ready, when a fat old woman had come out with a turban on her head. She'd left the building and Jace had used his stele to sneak in her apartment and explore it. Nothing suspicious. Just pathetic magic books and stacks of cards. Beads, velvet curtains, smoke, the lot. Jace had actually laughed at it all.

"And we're back where we began," Hodge sighed. "It seems the time has come to notify the Clave."

Jace's heart leapt into his throat. "No! We can't—"

"It made sense to keep Clary's presence here a secret while we were not sure she would recover. But now she has, and she is the first mundane to pass through the doors of the institute in over a hundred years. You know the rules about mundane knowledge of Shadowhunters, Jace. The Clave must be informed."

Alec nodded a little too eagerly. Jace suddenly felt like punching his parabatai just to shut him up. "Absolutely. I could get a message to my father—"

Jace made a quick decision. As much as he didn't want to hear Hodge's lecture, he wanted to keep Clary at the Institute for as long as possible, and if the Clave knew a supposed mundane was staying there, she'd be gone within the hour. He took a deep breath and spoke in a low voice, almost hoping no one would hear him. "She's not a mundane."

Hodge looked at Jace in astonishment. _By the Angel, here it comes. Might as well get it over with. _Clary had turned and was staring at him with a mixture of surprise and confusion. He met her gaze, unable to tear his eyes away.

"But I am," she said slowly.

"No, you're not." He turned away from her and swallowed hard. _Just say it. _He could still feel Clary watching him intently. He felt unsettled. "That night—there were Du'sien demons, dressed like police officers. We had to get past them. Clary was too weak to run, and there wasn't time to hide—she would have died." Something in his throat tightened when he said that and he swallowed again, impatiently. "So I used my stele—out a mendelin rune on the inside of her arm. I thought—"

Hodge hit the desk and Jace blinked, taken aback. "Are you out of your _mind_" Hodge roared, glaring at Jace. "You know what the Law says about placing Marks on mundanes! You-you of all people ought to know better!"

His words rang in Jace's head like a bell. _You of all people ought to know better!_

_I _should_ have known better, but…she…I can't think rationally, like I normally would when she's around, Hodge. What's happening to me?!_

"But it worked," he protested. He turned back to Clary. "Clary, show them your arm."

She blinked at him and hesitantly held her arm up, staring at the spot where the rune had once been, now reduced to a thin white scar. _I knew it!_ Jace thought triumphantly. An overwhelming feeling of pride and affection for Clary had swelled up in his chest and he felt almost euphoric. He gestured to her arm, careful not to let his emotions display on his face. "See, it's almost gone. It didn't hurt her at all."

Hodge shook, and so did his voice. Jace didn't even care. Clary was definitely a Shadowhunter. He could have her. And he would. If it was the last thing he ever did in his life, he would win her over. "That's not the point," Hodge said. "You could have turned her into a Forsaken."

Alec seemed to slice through Jace's disguised emotions like a hand slices a sheet of water. His cheeks burned with anger. "I can't believe you, Jace," he said as if he were an angry parent. Jace almost rolled his eyes. "Only Shadowhunters can receive Covenant Marks—they _kill _mundanes—"

"She's not a mundane," Jace replied, irritated. "Haven't you been listening? It explains why she could see us. She must have Clave blood."

He saw Clary cross her arms out of the corner of his eye. "But I don't. I couldn't."

_You do. _He kept his attention on Alec and Hodge. "You must. If you didn't, that Mark I made on your arm…"

"That's enough, Jace. There's no need to frighten her further."

"But I was right, wasn't I? It explains what happened to her mother, too," he argued, the pieces all suddenly connecting in his mind. "If she was a Shadowhunter in exile," he continued eagerly (a little too eagerly for his taste), "She might well have Downworld enemies."

"My mother wasn't a Shadowhunter!"

Jace finally turned back to Clary and held her gaze. "Your father, then. What about him?"

She stared at him coldly. "He died. Before I was born."

The pain in her voice was palpable and a vision of Jace's own father being cut down before his eyes flashed in Jace's mind and he almost physically recoiled. Alec was watching Jace worriedly. "If her father was a Shadowhunter, and her mother a mundane—well, we all know it's against the Law to marry a mundie. Maybe they were in hiding," he suggested, his voice still slightly poisonous.

"My mother would have told me," Clary retorted, not sounding as sure of herself as she had before.

Jace kept his eyes on her. "Not necessarily. We all have our secrets."

Clary was quiet for a moment and then her face lit up suddenly. She looked at Hodge. "Luke," she said. "Our friend. He would know." Her brow furrowed together. "It's been three days—he must be frantic. Can I call him? Is there a phone?" It was quiet for a moment and she turned to Jace desperately. "Please."

Jace tore his eyes away from her and looked at Hodge, who hunched his shoulders over. He gave in and nodded, gesturing to the phone on his desk and moving away. Jace moved back to Alec's chair and leaned against the armrest, observing Clary as she dialed a number into the old phone. She was so beautiful, and she didn't even know it. How could she be so blind to herself and yet see straight through him, as if he were transparent, like a window pane? It was unnerving.

"Luke!" She perked up as her family friend answered the phone. "It's me. It's Clary…I'm fine," she twirled the cord around her finger absently, leaning against the desk. Jace's fingers itched. He shoved them in his pockets, conscious of Alec's glare.

"I'm sorry I didn't call you before. Luke, my mom—" She sagged. "Then you haven't heard from her… What did the police say? …I'm in the city…I don't know where, exactly. With some friends. My wallet's gone, though. If you've got some cash, I could take a cab to your place—"

_No!_ Jace almost cried aloud. Clary went white suddenly and nearly dropped the phone. "What?" Her voice shook. "We could call—"

Her face got paler and paler until Jace thought she might pass out. "But I don't want to stay here." Her voice cracked. "I don't know these people. You—" Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. "I'm sorry, it's just—"

She suddenly took the phone away from her ear and stared at it disbelievingly, her eyes wide. She dialed the number again and then, when Luke didn't answer, slammed it back down angrily. Jace wished he could hug her tightly. Maybe he could, if they could leave together… _alone._ He glanced at Alec and then turned back to Clary. "I take it that he wasn't happy to hear from you?"

She ignored his and kept staring at the phone, her hands curling into fists and her eyes getting wider and wider. Hodge looked at Clary sympathetically. "I think I'd like to have a talk with Clary." He glanced at Jace, who had begun to push Alec out of the chair. "_Alone._"

Alec moved. "Fine. We'll leave you to it." He looked at Jace meaningfully.

Jace, outraged, leapt up from the chair. He was not leaving Clary. Not now. "That's hardly fair," he protested, pulling his arm away from Alec, who had grabbed onto it and was trying to pull him out of the library. "I'm the one who found her. I'm the one who saved her life!" He turned to Clary, opening his arms. She would want him. Girls always did. "You want me here, don't you?" he asked.

Clary blinked rapidly and turned away. Jace felt like he'd been slapped. Alec laughed. "Not everyone wants you all the time, Jace."

Jace felt like a deflated balloon. He glared at Clary. "Don't be ridiculous," he mumbled, addressing Alec's comment without really looking at him. Clary was glaring at the floor as if daring it to open up and swallow her hole. He sighed. "Fine, then. We'll be in the weapons room."

With that, he left the library. It took all his will not to slam the door.

He looked back up and saw Alec, leaning against the wall and watching Jace disapprovingly. "What are _you _looking at?"

**Holy frigging crap. That was a long chapter. Longer than I've ever written! I hope you guys liked it. It took me two days to write. REVIEW PLEEEEEEEEASE. This fanfic has the least amount of reviews! My most popular one has 168 reviews so far. This one needs some love! Because it loves you! Love always, ~S**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hellooooo, my dearest minions! How has your week been? Mine was craaaaaaazy! I had to crew for our production of The Tempest, and then I was recruited as the Hair/Makeup Manager for our upcoming production of A Christmas Carol, and I'm learning Green Finch and Linnet Bird for my audition song for The Mystery of Edwin Drood. So. Lots of stuff going on. Lots of drama too… Oh well. I love theatre kids anyway. They're my homies ;) Yeahhhh…I probably shouldn't be saying that. I'm literally the whitest person on the planet. ANWYAY. Here's a new chapter and I hope you guys enjoy it!**

Jace took the blade hammer off of its shelf and walked over to where Alec was examining the unfinished seraph blades. He bumped Alec to the side with his hip, effectively making Alec blush. Jace paid no attention. He wasn't exactly happy at the moment. He started pounding the seraph blades with the hammer, pretending he was striking a different person with each blow.

He struck Hodge for making him leave Clary, and for not letting him hear what he had to tell her. He struck Alec for having a crush on Jace and getting in the way of Jace's trying to win Clary over. He struck Isabelle for wrapping her whip around Clary's wrist and hurting her and scaring her. He struck Clary for being stubborn and disobedient, but it was more of a tap to the edge of the sword. And lastly, he struck himself, over and over and over, harder and harder and harder until he became aware that Alec was shouting at him.

"Jace! What the hell are you doing?" he cried, grabbing ahold of Jace's left arm before he could bring the hammer down again.

Jace looked at Alec sharply. "Making a sword, what does it look like?" he snapped.

Alec looked shocked. Jace pulled his arm back and mumbled, "I know what I'm doing."

Alec went around to the other side of the table and pulled the blades out of Jace's reach. The hammer struck the table, cracking the wood. Jace put it down and ran his hand through his hair. Alec watched him cautiously. "What's gotten into you?"

Jace picked up a Sensor and shoved it into his jacket pocket. "Nothing, I'm fine."

"No you're not."

Jace looked at Alec tiredly. "Yeah, actually, I am, thank you very much."

Alec sat back in a chair and crossed his arms, looking at his parabatai disapprovingly. "She's changed you. You've changed in the past week. Not even a week. It's been four days since the Pandemonium club and I feel like I don't even know you anymore, Jace."

_You never really knew me in the first place_, Jace thought, sitting down. "No she hasn't. None of this has anything to do with her," he replied, meeting Alec's gaze defiantly.

Alec laughed wryly. "Yes, it does. You know it does. Isabelle knows it does. All three of us know it does, and you know what the funniest part is? That little mundie has no idea what the hell she's doing."

Jace felt anger well up in his chest. "Oh? And what _exactly_ is she doing, Alec?" he asked, surprising himself with how calm he sounded.

"She's tearing us apart! That's what she's doing! Jace, you don't even stop to think before you throw yourself into…into whatever! You ran after her and could've been killed by a Ravener—"

Jace laughed. "Really, Alec? A _Ravener_? They're the stupidest demons alive, that Ravener could not have killed me, my friend. You're just jealous because she's killed a demon and you haven't," Jace said viciously.

Alec looked like he'd been slapped. "You don't mean that…" he said quietly.

Jace shoved the metaphorical knife in deeper. "I do mean it."

Alec narrowed his eyes. "I hope she dies, for your sake."

Jace felt like he'd swallowed a spinning chakram. "What did you just say?" he asked quietly.

"I mean it Jace. She's distancing you from us. She's tearing our family apart."

"So you want her to _die_?"

Alec swallowed. "Well…maybe that was a little harsh. Just…I just want her to go away. She must be some type of…of specialized demon. Or maybe she works for a demon or a warlock. You never know, they're tricky little—"

"Alec," Jace said slowly. "She has nowhere to go. She's not a Downworlder or a demon, and no matter how much you wish it, she most likely never will be. So either accept her, or get out."

Alec looked shocked. "You're choosing the _mundane _over _me_?"

Jace rolled his eyes. "No. I'm trying to get you to understand that she's not going anywhere anytime soon, so you might as well accept it. And she's not a mundane."

Alec clenched his teeth and his fists together. Jace knew he was being cruel. Alec looked down and played with the hilt of one of the swords. "Why do you want her to be a Shadowhunter so bad?" he asked.

Jace paused before he answered. As much as he wanted Alec to understand that Jace wanted Clary, as much as he wanted Alec to move on, Alec was also his parabatai and brother. Losing Alec would be like losing the only true friend he'd ever had. It would be a blow, even if it meant he could have Clary. "Because she reminds me of myself…" he said.

It wasn't entirely untrue. It wasn't why he was hoping beyond hope that she was a Shadowhunter. But he did see himself in her. He understood what she was going through, and how hard it was. How alone she must feel. He saw Alec's expression soften. "Oh…" he said. "I'm sorry. Does seeing her bring up bad memories? Because you don't have to—"

Jace cut him off. "I want to _help_ her, Alec. Remember how you and Iz helped me? Yeah, well, she doesn't have anyone to fill that role for her. No thanks to _you_," he said pointedly.

Alec shut up and they both pulled their boots on. It wasn't smart to work on weapons when you weren't fully clothed. Yes, they had iratzes, but an iratze only healed physical injuries, not injuries to the mind from being stupid. They sat back on the table and bent over the sword, shaping it carefully and polishing it. _This is how Alec and I are supposed to work together,_ Jace thought. And it was. They were a perfect pair, and, until recently, they'd never fought. Maybe Alec was right. Maybe Clary was poisoning his family, whether she knew it or not.

He heard the door shut and looked up to see Clary staring around her in wonderment. _Speak of the devil_, he thought. "Where's Hodge?"

"Writing to the Silent Brothers," Clary replied, still staring around.

Alec tensed at the sound of her voice. "Ugh."

Jace watched Alec watch Clary as she walked slowly to the table they were sitting at. He could almost see the angry blaze in his eyes, and he wanted to tell Clary to turn around and run for her life. "What are you doing?" she asked cautiously.

"Putting the last touches on these," Jace said, letting Clary stand next to him and gaze at the seraph blades lying on the table. "Sanvi, Sansanvi, and Semangelaf. They're seraph blades."

Clary looked doubtful. "Those don't look like knives. How did you make them? Magic?"

Jace swallowed a crazy burst of laughter and looked up at the ceiling. "The funny thing about mundies is how obsessed with magic they are for a bunch of people who don't even know what the word means," he said.

Clary looked at him sharply. "I know what it means."

"No," Jace said disapprovingly. "You don't, you just think you do. Magic is a dark and elemental force, not just a lot of sparkly wands and crystal balls and talking goldfish."

Clary turned red. "I never said it was a lot of talking goldfish, you—"

_She's even cuter when she's mad, _he thought, waving his hand to silence her. "Just because you call an electric eel a rubber duck doesn't make it a rubber duck, does it? And God help the poor bastard who decides they want to take a bath with the duckie," he mused.

Clary raised her eyebrows. "You're driveling."

Jace straightened up. "I'm not."

Alec's mouth twitched up a little. "Yes, you are." Jace picked up and examined one of the seraph blades. Alec looked down at the table. "Look, we don't do magic, okay? That's all you need to know about it."

Jace tensed, waiting for Clary to explode. To his surprise, she didn't. Instead she turned to him and he looked down at her expectantly. "Hodge said I could go home."

Jace jerked his hands back and nearly dropped Sansanvi. He looked at her incredulously, ignoring Alec's relieved smirk, already dreading the fact that she might leave him. "_He said what_?"

Clary swallowed nervously. "To look through my mother's things. If you'll go with me."

Jace's heart flew up from the bottom of his stomach and took off into the clouds. He and Clary were going to be _alone. Finally._ The smug look was wiped off Alec's face and replaced with his classic irritation. "Jace."

Clary was still looking straight at Jace. "If you really want to prove that my mom or dad was a Shadowhunter, we should look through my mom's things. What's left of them."

Jace gave her a lopsided grin, hoping to win her into holding his hand or something ridiculous like that. Her expression didn't change. His grin widened. "Down the rabbit hole. Good idea. If we go right now, we should have another three, four hours of daylight."

He fought to keep his arm down at his side instead of linking it with Clary's as they walked toward the exit. He heard Alec start to stand up and felt somewhat guilty as his best friend asked "Do you want me to come with you?"

Jace kept his eyes on the door, not wanting to see the venomous look he knew Alec would probably give Clary. "No, that's all right. Clary and I can handle this on our own." _Clary and I_. The words bounced inside of his head and he felt absurdly happy for a few moments. He turned down the hall, walking away from Alec and his poisonous looks more quickly than he realized.

He heard Clary's short, quick little steps jingling behind him. Her keys must be tied to her shoes. Jace glanced at her, wondering what to say. "Have you got your house keys?" he asked stupidly.

"Yeah."

_Obviously._ "Good," he nodded. "Not that we couldn't break in, but we'd run a greater chance of disturbing any wards that might be up if we did.

Clary sighed, looking away from him. "If you say so."

Jace mentally kicked himself. She didn't want to talk about house keys. She didn't want to hear him brag about how he could break into her house if he wanted to. She wasn't the kind of girl to be easily swayed by strength or attractiveness. He realized that she was the only girl he'd never caught staring at him dreamily. The only girl who'd never tried to hit on him. The only girl he'd failed to impress. _How does anyone impress this girl?_ he asked himself, calling the elevator and stepping back.

"Jace?" Clary asked hesitantly.

"Yeah?" he replied, not looking at her.

"How did you know I had Shadowhunter blood? Was there some way you could tell?"

Jace unlatched the elevator and let Clary in, following after her and thinking. Did she know she was a Shadowhunter and had just not wanted to tell them? No… She was legitimately scared and she didn't know anything. So, why was she asking him this…? "I guessed," he admitted. "It seemed like the most likely explanation."

Jace noticed Clary clenching her fists. _Uh-oh. _

"You guessed?" she said incredulously. "You must have been pretty sure, considering you could have killed me."

Jace braced his feet on the floor as the elevator lurched downward. "I was ninety percent sure."

"I see." Clary's voice cracked.

She must have been scared, Jace realized. He turned to her to tell her that she was okay now, when her hand flashed at his face and he heard a resounding crack, followed by the smarting of his cheek. He put his hand against his face, surprised and angry. "What the hell was that for?"

"The other ten percent," she replied smartly.

Jace was furious. He shoved his hands into his pockets and didn't talk to her the entire way to the subway, and once they got on the subway, he only grudgingly let her sit next to him. If he didn't like her so much, he would have lost her in the crowd and let her find her way home on her own.

He saved her life. Shouldn't she be falling at his feet and kissing his hands and thanking him for his bravery and quick thinking? He knew what the real answer was. He knew full well he could have killed her or injured her even further by putting that Mark on her. He'd just been so sure she was a Shadowhunter. But, he'd been more focused on making sure she was alive so that he could drag her home with him and stay with her that he hadn't thought about the fact that he could've ended up killing her himself. He was in the wrong.

He was musing over this when he felt her eyes on him. Finally. She was finally staring at him. It only took her four and a half days. Jace met her eyes and she still stared. _One point for Jace Wayland, ladies and gentleman,_ he thought. He raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you with something?" he asked.

Instead of blushing and looking away with that shy smile girls always got when he caught them checking him out, as he thought she'd do, she maintained eye contact with him. "Those girls on the other side of the car are staring at you."

_Is she serious right now?_ He'd spent the past half hour thinking about her and she'd spent the past half hour looking at everyone around her as if nothing had happened? Why didn't she feel guilty that she'd slapped him? It made him want to annoy her. He crossed his arms behind his head. "Of course they are. I am stunningly attractive."

Clary screwed her mouth up to the side. "Haven't you ever heard that modesty is an attractive trait?"

Jace bit back a laugh. She was quick, he had to give her that. "Only from ugly people," he pointed out. "The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me," he said, winking at the two blondes who were giggling furiously. _That wink should have the same effect on Clary,_ he thought grudgingly.

Clary looked away from him. "How come they can see you?"

He shrugged. "Glamours are a pain to use. Sometimes we don't bother."

He began to hum a love song he'd learned by playing the piano in Idris as they walked out of the station. Clary didn't know it was a love song. She didn't know he was singing it to her. And apparently it was annoying her. "Do you have to do that? It's annoying."

He increased his volume, playing with his seraph blade and kicking a rock out of his path. She was going to listen to the love song he was singing her whether she liked it or not. She finally broke into his singing by saying, "I'm sorry I smacked you."

The next note caught in his throat and he glanced at her. "Just be glad you hit me and not Alec. He would have hit you back."

She sighed. "He seems to be itching for the chance."

Jace blew air through his teeth as she kicked a soda can out of the way. So she's noticed. She knows Alec hates her. She just doesn't know why. Jace fought the crazy urge to hug her and tell her to ignore Alec because he was being an ass towards her.

"What was it that Alec called you? Para-something?"

"Parabatai. It means a pair of warriors who fight together—who are closer than brothers. Alec is more than my best friend. My father and his father were parabatai when they were young. His father was my godfather—that's why I live with them. They're my adopted family." The unwelcome image of blood soaking ten year old Jace's shoes flashed in his mind and he bit his lip.

"But your last name isn't Lightwood," Clary clarified.

"No," he said with finality, hoping to change the subject. Thankfully, they'd arrived at her house and although Clary had turned pale, she stood her ground. She was brave. He loved her for it. He looked around at the front of her house. It was a pretty brownstone, with a well-maintained garden and polished windows.

Clary pursed her lips. "It looks the same."

"On the outside." Jace said, examining the Sensor he'd pulled out of his pocket.

"So that's a Sensor?" Clary asked curiously, looking over his shoulder. He was annoyingly conscious of her warm breath hitting his hand. "What does it do?"

He shrugged. "It picks up frequencies, like a radio does, but these frequencies are demonic in origin."

"Demon shortwave?"

Jace bit back a laugh. "Something like that." They climbed the stairs to the door, the Sensor clicking softly. "It's picking up trace activity, but that could just be left over from that night. I'm not getting anything strong enough for there to be demons present now," he explained expertly.

Clary sighed. "Good." She bent to retrieve her keys and Jace looked away from her, his hands tingling. That could just be the Sensor. He hoped it was the Sensor. He noticed how pale she was and he reached out and touched her arm gently, sending spikes of electricity shooting through his nerves. "I'll go in first."

Clary didn't argue and he went ahead of her, waving for her to follow him. The entryway was almost pitch-black, but Jace was used to that. He began climbing the stairs to Clary's apartment, using the railing for a guide. He drew his hand back and studied the wet, red substance on it. "Blood."

"Maybe it's mine," Clary said, sounding small. "From the other night."

"It'd be dry now if it were." Jace looked around. "Come on."

He finished climbing the stairs and let her pass in front of him. He had half a mind to ask her to let him unlock the door, but he knew she'd never go for it. She was too independent and proud. Jace moved closer to her, watching her fumble with the lock and inhaling her scent. "Don't breath down my neck," she hissed, turning her head slightly so that Jace could see the curve of her jaw bone.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "I'll go in first."

They walked into the room. It was depressingly bare. Everything had been taken. Every picture stripped off the walls, ever piece of furniture gone. Clary began walking around and Jace followed right behind her, studying the walls and floor for any clue as to where her stuff might have disappeared to. The kitchen was also empty and Jace watched as Clary turned around in a circle. She huffed. "What would demons want with our microwave?"

Jace smiled a little. "I don't know, but I'm not sensing any demonic presence right now. I'd say they're long gone."

She turned around in another circle. Jace was becoming impatient. He wanted to leave her apartment. Maybe he could take her to Taki's. That sounded nice. Taki's. He could show her off to Kaelie. Clary might not be his girlfriend yet, but she sure as hell would be. And soon. "Are you satisfied? There's nothing here."

She shook her head and Jace suppressed a groan. "I want to see my room."

Jace was about to protest and then he thought of his own home in Idris. If he could have, he would have scoured the Wayland manor if he could have found one clue as to why people wanted to murder his father. He shrugged. "If that's what it takes."

Clary made a beeline for her bedroom, with Jace right behind. He leaned over her while she went to twist the doorknob. She winced as she touched it, having a hard time turning it. Jace's heart skipped a beat and he looked at her quickly, about to tell her to stop turning the door. _Forsaken,_ he thought.

At that moment, the door blew out, and Jace flattened against the wall, watching helplessly as Clary was thrown against the other wall, landing painfully on the floor.

**ALRIGHT. WHAT DID YOU GUYS THINK? Do you like it? Are you going to review? OF COURSE YOU ARE BECAUSE YOU LOVE ME. Heheheh. Until next time my lovelies.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Terribly sorry for the long update wait, my darlings. My library book is a month overdue now, so…be thankful I kept it, because I'll be paying a lot of money in fines for it XD Anyways. Hope you enjoy this chapter! ALSO. I AM DESPERATELY LOOKING FOR A BETA READER. SO. IF YOU WANT TO BE THIS STORY'S BETA PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW OR A PM. THANKS!**

Jace, surprised, was having trouble pulling his seraph blade out of his jacket, which never happened. A cloud of some emotion he didn't recognize had settled in his brain, and he couldn't think straight. He glanced over at Clary, who was slowly getting to her knees, gaping at the Forsaken looming over both of them.

_Thank the Angel she isn't hurt…_

Jace finally managed to get the seraph blade out of his pocket, raising it above his head and crying, "Sansanvi!" before charging at the stinking monster before him.

He sliced down, cutting deeply into the beast's arm, and watched it stagger back. In any other circumstance, he would've leapt on top of it and killed it as swiftly as possible. But this wasn't any circumstance. He had Clary to think about. She was right behind him, still on her knees, watching him in a horrified sort of amazement. All he could think about was her. Getting her to safety.

Momentarily ignoring the howling Forsaken, Jace turned and sprinted away, grabbing Clary's arm and dragging her with him. He pulled her upright and shoved her in front of him, desperate to get her out of the apartment and onto the street, where the monster would most likely not follow them. Jace felt the floor shake as they ran, his hand on Clary's back, pushing her to go faster. If they could just make it outside…

The Forsaken was gaining on them. They burst out onto the landing, and Jace threw the front door in the Forsaken's face, hearing it slam. The Forsaken roared and hurled itself at the door, causing it to tremble and buckle. _Clary._

He looked at her quickly, feeling the adrenaline coursing through his veins in anticipation of a fight. The adrenaline rush was like a drug to him. Even pain from battle wounds was like a drug, which was why he fought. It helped him forget his past. It helped him forget why he'd built those protective walls around him in the first place.

But right now, luckily, the only thing he was remembering was the joy of a fight, and the fact that he had a chance to show off to Clary, whose eyes were as wide as dinner plates. He turned to her again and shouted, "Get downstairs! Get out of the—"

His words were cut off as the door blew out, forcing Jace to sprint out of the way, to the top of the stairs, his whole body trembling with excitement. He saw Clary halfway down the hallway. "Get behind me!" he shouted, but apparently she didn't hear him over the noise of the monster, because she only furrowed her brow in puzzlement and panic.

His heart sped up as the creature made its way toward Clary. _No! You idiot, come for me! I'll kill you! She's defenseless!_

To his relief, Clary flattened against the wall, scrunching her face up when the Forsaken passed, making its way to Jace. Jace grinned, ready. The creature held its axe up in the air. Jace knew what it would do before it even happened. Sure enough, the axe came whizzing at him in the air, its aim true. He waited until the last second before ducking, hearing the axe thud into the banister behind him. He caught Clary's amazed gaze and laughed, angering the creature even more. It swung at him with its fists. Jace leapt out of the way and buried his sword in its shoulder, grinning maniacally.

This was what he was trained for. His body worked like a perfectly oiled war machine, each part moving in perfect harmony to rid the world of another evil creature. And what better combination than to be able to put his body to use _and _show off in front of a girl? Especially a girl as rare and perfect as Clary. She would be finally falling at his feet when all this was over. And he would graciously accept her.

The creature swayed dangerously over him. Jace saw too late what it was going to do. _Damn!_ He jumped aside, but not quickly enough. The next thing he knew, he yelled and he was tumbling down the stairs in the giant's hands, landing painfully on the floor with the giant pinning him to the ground. He let his head fall back and he closed his eyes. His legs hurt like hell. Not the way to impress a girl.

The stupid Forsaken was flopping around like an almost dead fish, damaging Jace's legs even more. His own fist dug painfully into his back. He waited for it to die before getting up. Hope and concern suddenly surged through him as he heard footsteps running down the stairs. Clary.

A tiny hand clasped his shoulder, sending sparks through his arm. "Jace?"

Jace's eyes flew open and he saw the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen. Clary's worried face was leaning over him, her bright red curls falling over her wide green eyes. Jace resisted the urge to pull her down and kiss her. "Is it dead?"

He saw relief flood through her face. "Almost."

He scrunched his nose up in pain. His arm was probably broken, and now that the adrenaline was gone, he could feel every stabbing little needle that made his bones feel like they were on fire. "Hell. My legs—" He broke off.

Clary watched him for a second. "Hold still," she said, scooting around so he couldn't see her. He felt her thin arms slip under his and wrap around his chest. He hoped to God she couldn't feel his heart pounding right now.

She yanked him out from under the giant and then dropped him as if he were a dangerous animal, leaving him to struggle to his feet alone. He winced as his arm swung at an awkward angle. He pulled it carefully across his chest.

"Is your arm all right?"

He shook his head. "No. Broken." An idea formed in his mind. "Can you reach my pocket?"

He felt low. He could've reached his own pocket with his right arm, but, well…he wanted her to. He wanted to feel her hand brush against him again. She paused and for a terrifying moment, he thought Clary would see right through his scheme and refuse. But then she nodded and his fears were replaced by a joy he was careful to keep hidden from her. "Which one?"

"Inside jacket, right side. Take out one of the seraph blades and hand it to me."

Jace managed to keep himself very still as she stepped very close to him and slipped her hand inside his jacket. He had to force himself to keep his breathing normal, and if he wasn't wrong, Clary seemed just as nervous as he was. She found his pocket, her fingers brushing against his side as she drew it out, avoiding his gaze. He grinned inwardly as he saw her flush a light pink, almost too light to notice.

"Thanks," he said, running his fingers thoughtfully along the carved grooves in the hilt. He named it. "Sanvi." It sprang to life and he glanced at Clary again. "Don't watch."

Grimacing, he sliced into the giant's throat, wrinkling his nose at the painful flashback the blood splattering on his boots brought. He felt the blood drain out of his face, whether from physical or emotional pain, he couldn't tell. It all blended together sometimes. He noticed Clary watching him in horror. "I told you not to watch," he grunted sternly.

"I thought you said it would disappear," she said, surprisingly calm. "Back to its own dimension-you said."

Jace looked at her for a moment too long. "I said that's what happens to demons when they die." He scrunched his face up in pain and slid his jacket off his shoulder, examining the bone, which was nearly breaking his skin. "That wasn't a demon." He pulled out his stele and glanced at Clary, who was staring at it, no doubt remembering the Mark he'd burned into her skin a few nights ago.

"This is a stele," he explained, finishing the iratze on his arm. "And this is what happens when Shadowhunters are wounded."

He sighed as the bone mended itself, the pain disappearing. He stretched it out, making sure it was of use again. Good as new. Clary looked somewhat disturbed.

"That's amazing. How did you-?"

"That was an iratze—a healing rune," he explained, pocketing the stele and kicking the Forsaken. He thought of Hodge bemusedly. "We're going to have to report this to Hodge. He'll freak out," he said, laughing inwardly at the thought of Hodge flying at them in a rage, wondering why Jace didn't sense the Forsaken. Wondering why Jace didn't have the sense to at least get Clary out of the house. Lecturing him for putting Clary's life at risk…again.

Clary was looking at him as if she were trying to solve a particularly confusing puzzle. "Why will he freak?" she asked. "And I get that that thing isn't a demon—that's why the Sensor didn't register it, right?"

Jace felt a surge of pleasure spread through his body. She was catching on. Of course she was catching on. She's a Shadowhunter, and a smart one at that. He simply nodded in approval. "You see the scars all over its face?"

"Yes." Clary looked nervous. Her fingers were curling up into her palms, he noticed.

Jace took a deep breath. "Those were made with a stele. Like this one," he explained, tapping a finger against where his stele was tucked into his belt. "You asked me what happened when you carve Marks onto someone who doesn't have Shadowhunter blood. Just one Mark will only burn you, but a lot of Marks, powerful ones?" He shook his head. "Carved into the flesh of a totally ordinary human being with no trace of Shadowhunter ancestry? You get this," he said, indicating the dead Forsaken. "The runes are agonizingly painful." He watched as her eyes grew wider and wider with increasing horror and disgust. Did he really want to force her to become one of them? Did he really want to pull her into this life style? "The Marked ones go insane—the pain drives them out of their minds. They become fierce, mindless killers. They don't sleep or eat unless you make them, and they die, usually quickly. Runes have great power and can be used to do great good—but they can be used for evil. The Forsaken are evil."

Clary swallowed, her jaw agape, her brow furrowed. "But why would anyone do that to themselves?"

Jace shrugged. "Nobody would. It's something that gets done to them. By a warlock, maybe, some Downworlder gone bad. The Forsaken are loyal to the one who Marked them, and they're fierce killers. They can obey simple commands, too. It's like having a—a slave army." He moved away from her to go check for more Forsaken (and more chances to show off). Then he thought of Clary as a person, and not as a thing to be toyed with. He half turned back to her. "I'm going back upstairs."

She tore her eyes away from the Forsaken and fixed her sharp green eyes on him, making him feel naked suddenly, as if her gaze had somehow stripped every layer of protection he had, physically, mentally and emotionally. He did his best not to shift uncomfortably and fold his arms protectively over his chest. That would be stupid. "But there's nothing there."

He glanced up the stairway. Maybe if she refused to go outside, she'd follow him and then he could save her life…again. He couldn't help it. He had this sudden desire to show off and prove himself to this girl. To impress her, which was proving incredibly, unbelievably difficult. "There might be more of them. You should wait here," he said firmly, mounting the steps.

He was almost to the landing, and about to turn around and check to see if Clary was following him, or if she was actually doing what he told her for once, when a shrieky sounding voice rang out to him from the ground. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. There are more of them where the first one came from."

For a split second, Jace though it was Clary calling out to him from the floor. But it couldn't be. He spun around to see the hedge-witch standing in the doorway of her apartment, glaring at him suspiciously. He saw Clary cock her head to the side a little bit. She obviously recognized the woman, but seemed just as puzzled as Jace as to why her neighbor would be warning him about the Forsaken.

"Madame Dorothea?"

The woman nodded. Jace stared at her hard, shocked. How did she know about the Forsaken? He'd investigated the woman, and nothing suspicious came up on her profile. Now granted, he hadn't done as thorough a job as he should have, but there'd been nothing to worry about. She was a fake. A flop. A phony. "But…" he stammered.

Clary ignored him. _Typical Clary._ "More _what_?"

Jace was about to answer for Madame Dorothea. Then he realized Clary was asking this more for the sake of finding out what the "witch" actually knew, than to find out what the witch meant.

"More Forsaken," Madame Dorothea replied cheerily. Jace thought that if his jaw could drop anymore, it would crash through the floor. Maybe Clary could nurse him back to health if it did. "You have made a mess, haven't you? I'm sure you weren't planning on cleaning up either. Typical."

"But you're a _mundane_," Jace finally forced out.

"So observant," the witch said. "The Clave really broke the mold with you."

She knew about the Clave? Anger started flooding into Jace's veins. If she knew the Clave, then why didn't she notify them the minute something suspicious turned up? Why was she living beneath Clary and her mother, if they were also mundane? Did she have something to do with the fact that Clary didn't seem to know about her own heritage? "You know about the Clave?" He drew himself up, trying to appear superior. "You knew about them, and you knew there were Forsaken in this house, and you didn't notify them? Just the existence of Forsaken is a crime against the Covenant—"

Madame Dorothea narrowed her eyes at him angrily. "Neither Clave nor Covenant have ever done anything for me. I owe them nothing."

"Jace, stop it," Clary said, softly but firmly, snapping Jace out of his angry bewilderment. How was it possible that she had that effect on him? He was the one who was supposed to affect her that way. She wasn't supposed to calm him down and reprimand him. That was his job. Clary, apparently oblivious to the fact that Jace was blatantly staring at her (against his own will, he thought defensively), continued.

"If you know about the Clave and the Forsaken, then maybe you know what happened to my mother?" she asked hopefully.

Dorothea frowned and shook her head. "My advice to you is to forget your mother. She's gone."

Jace watched as all the color drained out of Clary's face. She started swaying dangerously back and forth, and Jace was suddenly afraid she would pass out. He sprinted downstairs and caught her elbow, holding her up. Her skin was warm against his palm and the mere thought of touching her was clouding his brain, making him want to say something comforting to her, but rendering him unable to formulate words.

"No," Dorothea sighed. "I'm sure she's still alive. For now."

Clary stopped swaying, but Jace didn't remove his hand. He didn't want to, and she didn't move away. "Then I have to find her. You understand? I have to find her before—"

"I don't want to involve myself in Shadowhunter business."

Clary's blood was pooling in her cheeks, her face flushed, frustrated. "But you knew my mother. She was your neighbor—"

Jace finally knew what to do and say. He reluctantly dropped his hand and shoved them in his pockets. "This is an official Clave investigation. I can always come back with the Silent Brothers."

"Oh for the—" Jace knew he'd trapped her. He smirked. "I suppose you might as well come in," Dorothea grumbled. "I'll tell you what I can. But if you tell anyone I helped you Shadowhunter," she spat, fixing her glare on Jace. "You'll wake up tomorrow with snakes for hair and an extra pair of arms."

Jace laughed inwardly. "That might be nice, an extra pair of arms. Handy in a fight,"

Dorothea smiled glitteringly. "Not if they're growing out of your…neck."

The image flashed through Jace's head. It wasn't very attractive. He kept a poker face. "Yikes," he said sarcastically.

"Yikes is right, Jace Wayland."

Jace's heart skipped a beat. How the hell did she know his name? He felt Clary watching him. He avoided her gaze.

"Wayland?"

"It's my name. I can't say I like that she knows it," he mused, peering suspiciously into the apartment.

Clary looked around curiously. "Still," she breathed. "I think we might as well try talking to her. What have we got to lose?"

Jace groaned inwardly, thinking of all the times he, Iz and Alec had said that before chasing into some gargantuan demon fight and stumbling home half alive. "Once you've spent a bit more time in our world, you won't ask me that again."

With that, he lead the way into Dorothea's apartment.

**Phew! What do you guys think? I don't know how long it will be until I can update this one again. It'll have to wait until I've paid the fine and checked the book out..again. Sorry my loves :( In the meantime, check out my other fanfics!**


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